NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks continued their climb in Friday afternoon trade as investors grappled with lower crude prices and comments from Fed officials and a outlook for the economy and the pressure of inflation.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 45.06 to 11,376.50, Charts) rose about 0.48 percent and the Nasdaq composite (up 9.31 to 2,164.60, Charts) gained 0.42 percent about 2-1/2 hours remaining in the session.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 (up 3.80 to 1,297.82, Charts) index climbed modestly.

A decline in oil prices helped send stocks higher Friday morning, as the price of U.S. light crude oil for October delivery fell 95 cents to $66.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Comments from Cleveland Fed president Sandra Pianalto delivered earlier Friday also helped sending major gauges higher as well.

Pianalto said in a speech that while inflation was worrisome, the slowing economy will help counter it, essentially what the Fed forecast at the last policy meeting.

Stocks retreated both Wednesday and Thursday on revived worries about higher inflation that push the Federal Reserve to start raising interest rates again. Comments from San Francisco Federal Reserve president Janet Yellen, who said the Fed may need to keep raising rates due to rising inflation, helped spark inflation jitters Thursday.

Stocks have started off September on a down note, as is typical, with September often the worst month of the year for stocks.

"It's been a tough week," said Tom Schrader, managing director of U.S. equity trading at Legg Mason. "There hasn't been a lot of direction or economic numbers and we still have a lot of people coming back from vacation or taking their kids to school."

He said that next week could be more interesting, as the economic calendar is a little fuller, bringing reports on retail sales and consumer prices.

Lennar Corp. (down $0.95 to $42.30, Charts) slipped after the homebuilder joined the list of companies in its industry, including KB Home (down $0.01 to $40.39, Charts) and Beazer Home (up $0.00 to $37.33, Charts), that have warned recently that quarterly earnings will miss estimates.

Broadcom (down $0.35 to $26.08, Charts) shares sank nearly 2 percent after it said it found more errors in the way it accounted for past stock options. As a result, the chipmaker said it will have to book at least twice as much as it had previously thought in additional stock-based compensation costs.

Shares of the credit reporting bureau Equifax (up $4.80 to $37.22, Charts) soared more than 15 percent Friday after the company upped its earnings forecast for 2006.

AirTran Holdings Inc. (down $1.34 to $9.33, Charts), the parent company of the low-cost carrier AirTran Airways, slumped over 13 percent after the company trimmed its revenue outlook for the third quarter due to weakened travel demand.

National Semiconductor (up $0.04 to $24.43, Charts) slipped modestly after warning that current-quarter revenue will miss forecasts, due to a continued bout of sluggish sales.

Amazon.com (up $0.64 to $30.37, Charts) posted gains after announcing late Thursday a widely anticipated service that allows customers to download movies and television programs to their personal computers.

In other corporate news, Hewlett Packard (up $0.53 to $35.95, Charts) admitted late Thursday it had acquired the phone records of nine journalists from such publications as the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal in an effort to locate the source of a boardroom leak.

HP Chairman Patricia Dunn, who has been accused of masterminding the scandal, said she was not aware of tactics used in the leak investigation, Reuters reported.

Market breadth was positive and volume was moderate. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners beat losers three to two as 705 million shares changed hands. On the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners by five to four as 841 million shares changed hands.

Treasury prices rose, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to about 4.76 percent from 4.78 percent late Thursday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

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

COMEX gold for December delivery fell $6.50 to $618.4 an ounce.

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