Wall Street gains after US inflation data released

Wall Street's main indexes have risen after an in-line inflation reading kept intact bets on the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates later this month.

A Labor Department report showed the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.3 per cent on a monthly basis in November compared with the 0.3 per cent increase forecast by economists polled by Reuters.

Annually, it stood at 2.7 per cent, in line with estimates.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile components such as food and energy, came in at 3.3 per cent as expected.

"Everything's exactly in line with estimates ... it's very likely that you will see the Fed probably go ahead with what they projected, cutting 25 basis points (later this month)," said David Miller, chief investment officer at Catalyst Funds.

Bets on the Fed cutting 25 basis point cut next week jumped to more than 96 per cent compared with an 86 per cent chance before the data, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.

Bets had risen following Friday's employment report, which showed an uptick in unemployment alongside a surge in job growth.

Also expected this week is a producer prices reading on Thursday.

Yields on US government bonds also slipped after the data, with the yield on the 10-year note last at 4.2108 per cent.

Yields move inversely to prices.

In early trading on Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 91.53 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 44,339.36, the S&P 500 gained 34.06 points, or 0.56 per cent, to 6,068.97 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 187.52 points, or 0.95 per cent, to 19,874.76.

Eight of the 11 major S&P sub-sectors were trading higher, with consumer discretionary rising 1.3 per cent while communication services added 1.8 per cent.

Most megacap and growth stocks were higher early on, with Tesla up 1.8 per cent and Amazon.com gaining 2.0 per cent.

Despite running into some turbulence earlier this week, both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are hovering near their all-time highs as investors bought into heavyweight technology stocks all through the year in a bid to catch up with the artificial intelligence hype.

Another tailwind for equities was former president Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election in November as analysts believe his policies on lower corporate taxes and eased regulation could boost corporate performance.

Among other movers, GameStop gained 5.2 per cent after the video game retailer reported a profit for the third quarter on cost-saving efforts.

Broadcom jumped 3.5 per cent following a report that Apple is developing its first server chip specially designed for artificial intelligence with the company.

Macy's slumped 12 per cent after the department-store bellwether cut its annual profit forecast as persistent weakness in demand clouded its expectations for the holiday shopping season.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.85-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.81-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted eight new 52-week highs and two new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 39 new highs and 26 new lows.