Stocks were mixed Wednesday as market participants looked ahead towards Nvidia's (NVDA  ) highly anticipated earnings report due out after market close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose over 100 points, while the S&P 500 Index closed flat and Nasdaq Composite declined over 0.1%.

Here's how the market settled on Wednesday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): +0.00% or +0.13 points to 5,917.11

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): +0.32% or +139.53 points to 43,408.47

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): -0.11% or -21.33 points to 18,966.14

On the Earnings Front:

Target (TGT  ) reported disappointing third-quarter earnings on Wednesday, driven by weak customer traffic despite large-scale price cuts and early holiday sales. The retailer also cut its full-year profit guidance, now expecting adjusted earnings per share between $8.30 to $8.90, from its previous range of $9 to $9.70 set back in August. Target also expects fourth-quarter comparable sales to be flat.

"It's disappointing that a deceleration in discretionary demand combined with some cost pressures have caused us to take out guidance back down after raising it last quarter," Chief Operating Officer Michael Fiddelke said during the company's earnings call with analysts.

Citi analyst Paul Lejuez downtraged Target to Neutral from Buy following its earnings report, and updated the firm's price target to imply about 16% downside from Tuesday's close.

"Though 3Q may have had some unique challenges, we believe very poor results at TGT in 3Q (and an uninspiring outlook for 4Q) show TGT is likely losing share to [Walmart (WMT  )]," Lejuez said in a Wednesday note. "With WMT's mkt share gains coming largely from higher income consumers (as they called out yesterday), TGT seems to be the one most at risk of losing additional share."

In the News:

McDonald's (MCD  ) is preparing to launch a 'McValue' initiative in 2025 to better respond to low-income customers, CNBC reports. The effort includes keeping the $5 value menu, and introducing a "buy one, add one" option for $1 more, according to CNBC.

"We and our franchisees have heard customers loud and clear when it comes to keeping prices as affordable as possible," McDonald's told CNBC in a statement. "From the popular $5 Meal deal, to numerous local and in-App offers on the food they love -- we went big on value this summer and fall, bringing fans even more ways to save when they visit McDonald's. And as we look to 2025, we're cooking up something even bigger."

Delta Air Lines (DAL  ) announced Wednesday during its Investor Day presentation that it expects its sales to grow in 2025 due to a "resilient economy" for travel demand and credit card spending. The airline calls for revenue growth in the mid-single-digit percentage points year-over-year next year, adding that costs, excluding fuel, also are expected to rise in the low single digits next year.

Moreover, Delta said it plans to expand flying by 3% to 4% near year over 2024, and issued longer-term growth outlook for adjusted earnings to increase by 10% a year over the next three to five years.

Comcast (CMCSA  ) announced plans to spin off all of NBCUniversal's cable networks, excluding Bravo, into a separate publicly traded company on Wednesday. Temporarily called "SpinCo," the new company will be lead by Mark Lazarus, chair of NBCUniversal's media group.

The combined networks of the new company generated about $7 billion in revenue in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, Comcast said in a release.

"As a standalone company with these outstanding assets, we will be better positioned to serve our audiences and drive shareholder returns in this incredibly dynamic media environment across news, sports and entertainment," Lazarus said in a statement. "We see a real opportunity to invest and build additional scale and I'm excited about the growth opportunities this transition will unlock. Our financial strength will also provide capacity for an attractive capital return policy while allowing for investment in the growth of these businesses."

Bank of America analyst Curtis Nagle double-upgraded Chewy (CHWY  ) shares to Buy from Underperform, citing positive pet ownership trends and the stock's earnings potential. The firm also raised its price target to $40 from $24, implying a more than 21% upside from Tuesday's close.

"Improving industry data should lead to accelerating topline trends and stronger earnings leverage for Chewy, which we think the Street is likely underestimating," Nagle wrote in a Wednesday note to clients. "We think there is an opportunity for significant earnings growth in the coming years."

For Thursday:

All eyes will be on Nvidia's (NVDA  ) third-quarter earnings report on Thursday, alongside more housing market data for October.