Stocks held near the flatline on Wednesday as a key inflation report came in-line with expectations. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added nearly 50 points, while the S&P 500 Index closed on the positive side of the flatline and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite underperformed, losing nearly 0.3%.

Here's how the market settled on Wednesday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): +0.02% or +1.39 points to 5,985.38

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): +0.11% or +47.21 points to 43,958.19

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): -0.26% or -50.68 points to 19,230.72

Moving Markets:

Consumer Prices rose in-line with expectations in October, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday, leading investors to raise the odds the Federal Reserve will issue another interest rate cut in its December meeting.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.2% on the month and 2.6% annually, with the annual reading increasing by 0.2 percentage point from September. Excluding food and energy, core CPI increased 0.3% in October and 3.3% year-over-year, also coming in-line with estimates.

Holiday Outlook:

Morgan Stanley strategist Michelle Weaver wrote in a note Wednesday that consumers are expected to spend more than they did last year this holiday season, with many Americans on the hunt for discounts as lower-priced goods are expected to outperform.

"The set up for the consumer remains tricky as higher-income consumers continue to drive spending while lower-income consumers feel the impact of multiple years of elevated prices," said Weaver. "As such, consumers are not planning to go on a spending spree across categories and will continue to allocate budgets selectively."

On the Earnings Front:

Cava Group (CAVA  ) reported better-than-expected third-quarter results late Tuesday and lifted its fiscal 2024 same-store sales growth outlook for a second time due to the strong quarter. The Mediterranean fast-casual chain saw same-store sales increase by 18% annually, including a 13% rise in traffic and 5% increase from menu prices.

The company now expects same-store sales to increase by 12% to 13% in its full-year guidance, up from its prior outlook of 8.5% to 9.5% last quarter and its initial range of 4.5% to 6.5%.

Spotify (SPOT  ) reported disappointing third quarter earnings that were overshadowed by the audio streaming platform's strong profit forecast for its fourth-quarter late Tuesday. The company expects operating income to total 481 million euros in its current quarter, with monthly active users increasing to 665 million--both forecasts topping analyst estimates.

In the News:

Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani named Apple (AAPL  ) as one of its top five ideas for 2025, citing potential long-term upside from Apple Intelligence, the company's artificial intelligence offering. The firm also projects that the stock could reach $300, implying an upside of nearly 33%.

"Beyond AI, we continue to expect solid growth out of Services (low teens) and Wearables (HSD) in FY25 along with continued strength in margins," Daryanani wrote. "This growth coupled with steadily accelerating iPhone y/y growth should enable Apple stock to work higher as we go through 2025."

Amazon (AMZN  ) announced a new storefront called "Amazon Haul," on Wednesday, featuring apparel, home goods, electronics and other items priced below $20. The company is also offering free shipping on orders over $25, or a $3.99 shipping fee for all other orders.

"Finding great products at very low prices is important to customers, and we continue to explore ways that we can work with our selling partners so they can offer products at ultra-low prices," said Dharmesh Mehta, vice president of worldwide selling partner services, in a statement.

AMD (AMD  ) announced Wednesday it will lay off 4% of its global staff to better compete with the growing artificial intelligence chip market dominated by Nvidia (NVDA  ).

"As a part of aligning our resources with our largest growth opportunities, we are taking a number of targeted steps that will unfortunately results in reducing our workforce by approximately 4%," the company said in a statement.

For Thursday:

Market participants will turn their attention towards October's producer price index reading on Thursday, as well as remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell and earnings reports from companies including Cisco Systems (CSCO  ), Disney (DIS  ) and JD.com (JD  ).