US benchmark equity indexes were higher intraday after official data showed consumer inflation accelerated in line with Wall Street's projections last month.

The Nasdaq Composite was up 1.8% at 20,003.8 after midday Wednesday, while the S&P 500 rose 0.9% to 6,090.3. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.1% to 44,306.6. Among sectors, communication services paced the gainers, while health care saw the biggest drop.

In economic news, the US consumer price index increased 0.3% in November, ticking up from 0.2% in each of the previous four months, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Annually, inflation accelerated to 2.7% from October's 2.6% pace. Both measures were in line with forecasts in a Bloomberg-compiled survey.

"The November CPI report provided further evidence that inflation progress is becoming much more incremental, suggesting the (Federal Reserve's) fight of returning (to) 2% inflation is far from over," TD Economics said in a note.

The odds of a 25-basis-point reduction in interest rates next week climbed to nearly 95% Wednesday from 89% Tuesday, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

The official producer prices report for November is scheduled to be released Thursday.

Mortgage applications in the US continued their upward trend last week buoyed by refinance activity, as rates across most loan types decreased, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday.

The US 10-year yield increased 2.7 basis points to 4.25% intraday, while the two-year rate lost one basis point to 4.14%.

In company news, Apple (AAPL) is working with Broadcom (AVGO) as it develops its first server chip specially designed for artificial intelligence, The Information reported, citing unnamed sources. Broadcom shares were up 5.6%, the top gainer on the Nasdaq and among the best on the S&P 500, while Apple rose 0.6%.

Albertsons (ACI) terminated its proposed $25 billion acquisition by Kroger (KR) after two courts ruled to block the deal, while the grocery chain sued Kroger for allegedly failing in its effort to secure regulatory approval. Kroger shares gained 0.9%, while Albertsons dropped 0.7%.

Adobe (ADBE) and Nordson (NDSN) are among the companies scheduled to report their latest quarterly financial results after Wednesday's closing bell.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 2% to $69.94 a barrel intraday. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries cut its 2024 and 2025 global oil demand projections for the fifth consecutive month. The cartel said the bulk of the revision to the 2024 outlook factors in the recently received "bearish" data for the third quarter.

Gold was up 1.4% at $2,757.60 per troy ounce, while silver added 0.7% to $32.97 per ounce.