File photo: CGTN

Wall Street stocks ended with gains Wednesday, retracing some of the losses from one day earlier driven by stronger-than-expected US inflation data that sparked fears of more Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent. The dollar edged down in choppy trade, as oil prices climbed.

The US inflation data still pulled European and Asian equities sharply lower, London the heaviest faller in Europe after news that UK inflation had slowed last month but remained close to a 40-year high.

US shares were battered Tuesday by the consumer price index data showing widespread inflation pressures, and though the annual CPI pace slowed in August, prices unexpectedly increased in the month compared to July.

The disappointing result left investors bracing for the Federal Reserve to continue its tough anti-inflation fight with another massive interest rate hike next week.

Investors "got crushed yesterday, because the inflation outlook wasn't as good as we thought and the Fed is probably going to have to raise rates more than they thought over the cycle," said Karl Haeling of LBBW.

But Tuesday's sell off was "so big, that you're getting a little bit of a technical bounce today. And that's it," he told AFP.