Sawt Falasteen - Nasdaq surges above 20,000 after US inflation data matches estimates

While the Dow fell slightly, the other two major US indices advanced, led by the tech-rich Nasdaq, which piled on almost two percent to close above 20,000 points for the first time.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose to 2.7 percent last month from a year ago, up slightly from 2.6 percent in October.

"With the CPI numbers broadly in line, it is likely that the Fed will not be derailed and will cut rates again next week," Jochen Stanzl, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

"The data is not a showstopper for the current bull run on Wall Street," he added.

Ahead of the data, investors priced in an 86 percent chance the Fed will cut interest rates next week by a quarter percentage point. That rose to more than 98 percent after the CPI data was published.

Stocks in Paris and Frankfurt rose ahead of the European Central Bank's own interest rate announcement on Thursday, with analysts expecting another cut as it seeks to boost eurozone growth.

Investors are also eyeing political developments in France, where officials said President Emmanuel Macron aims to name a new prime minister "within 48 hours" as he seeks to end political deadlock following the ouster of Michel Barnier.

In company news, shares in German retail giant Zalando shed more than four percent on Frankfurt's DAX index, after it acquired domestic rival About You in a deal worth around 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion).

Shares in Zara owner Inditex slid more than six percent after a record quarterly profit for the group fell short of market estimates.

Among US companies, Google parent Alphabet earned 5.5 percent as it announced the launch of Gemini 2.0, its most advanced artificial intelligence model to date. That added to gains after Google also announced Tuesday details of a breakthrough quantum chip.

Shares in Shanghai rose but Hong Kong gave up an early rally to end in the red.

Traders were keeping tabs on China to see if it will announce further measures to support its struggling economy as leaders were to gather Wednesday for a conference to hammer out next year's agenda.

President Xi Jinping and other top leaders on Monday announced their first major shift in policy for more than a decade, saying they would "implement a more active fiscal policy and an appropriately relaxed" strategy.

Those remarks sparked hopes for more interest rate cuts and the freeing up of more cash for lending.

- Key figures around 2150 GMT -

New York - Dow: DOWN 0.2 percent at 44,148.56 (close)

New York - S&P 500: UP 0.8 percent at 6,084.19 (close)

New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 1.8 percent at 20,034.89 (close)

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 8,301.62 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.4 percent at 7,423.40 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.3 percent at 20,399.16 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: FLAT at 39,372.23 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.8 percent at 20,155.05 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 3,432.49 (close)

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0498 from $1.0527 on Tuesday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2752 from $1.2771

Dollar/yen: UP at 152.40 yen from 151.95 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 82.31 from 82.42 pence

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.8 percent at $73.52 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 2.4 percent at $70.29 per barrel

burs-jmb/mlm

F.Qawasmeh--SF-PST