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* U.S. headline, core CPI growth falls short of estimates

* Home Depot rises after beating profit estimates

* Indexes: Dow up 1.4%, S&P 500 up 1.9%, Nasdaq up 2.2%

NEW YORK, Nov 14 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose sharply on Tuesday, led by a more than 2% gain in the Nasdaq, as softer-than-expected inflation data supported the view that the Federal Reserve may be done raising interest rates.

The rate-sensitive real estate sector was up 5.1%, on track for its biggest daily percentage gain since November 2022, while utilities rose 3.2% and the small-cap Russell 2000 index advanced 4.7%.

The benchmark S&P 500 briefly crossed the 4,500 mark for the first time in two months.

Data showed U.S. consumer prices were unchanged in October as Americans paid less for gasoline, and the annual rise in underlying inflation was the smallest in two years. In the 12 months through October, the CPI climbed 3.2% - below economists' estimates - after rising 3.7% in September.

"Small caps have been extremely sensitive as the rates have climbed higher," said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The day's market rally overall "is in direct response to that CPI report suggesting that perhaps the Fed is finished (hiking rates), although there are questions as to whether or not the Fed can declare victory," she said.

Since March 2022, the Fed has hiked its policy rate 525 basis points to combat high inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 481.07 points, or 1.4%, to 34,818.94, the S&P 500 gained 82.38 points, or 1.87%, at 4,493.93 and the Nasdaq Composite added 302.47 points, or 2.2%, at 14,070.21.

Investors also focused on negotiations by U.S. lawmakers over a funding bill as they face an end-of-week deadline to fund the federal government.

Among individual stocks, Snap Inc shares jumped following news that Amazon.com will allow Snapchat users in the United States to buy some products listed on the ecommerce company directly from the social media app.

Home Depot gained after the U.S. home improvement chain beat quarterly profit estimates.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 9.78-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 3.56-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 45 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 102 new highs and 120 new lows. (Additional reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Ankika Biswas; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Richard Chang)