NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Stocks jumped Wednesday morning, led by technology issues, as a strong earnings report and forecast from Cisco Systems soothed investors after the previous session's big selloff.

The Nasdaq composite (up 14.74 to 2,259.70, Charts) gained 0.4 percent, while the Dow Jones industrial average (down 48.51 to 10,749.76, Charts) and the Standard & Poor's 500 index (up 3.02 to 1,257.80, Charts) both gained around 0.2 percent in the early going.

Stocks slumped Tuesday, as investors bailed out of the leaders of the recent advance, including energy, commodities, homebuilding and tech.

But the tone was more positive Wednesday, thanks in part to Cisco.

Cisco reported fiscal second quarter earnings late Tuesday that rose from a year earlier and beat analysts' forecasts by a penny. The tech bellwether also issued an upbeat current-quarter revenue forecast.

Cisco (up $1.20 to $19.29, Research) shares rose Wednesday morning. In addition, other tech stocks rose, with investors showing relief after a string of disappointing earnings in the sector over the last few weeks, including Google (up $1.01 to $368.93, Research) and Yahoo! (down $0.05 to $32.97, Research).

U.S. light crude oil for March delivery fell 26 cents to $62.83 a barrel in electronic trading.

Treasury prices eased, raising the 10-year note yield to 4.57 percent from 4.56 percent late Tuesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar gained versus the euro and the yen.

COMEX gold for April delivery rose 20 cents to $551.20 after losing more than $19 in Tuesday's big selloff.

In global trade, major Asian markets ended lower, while European shares fell at midday.

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