Stocks jump on Cisco

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Cisco's strong earnings report propelled the Nasdaq composite Wednesday morning and gave a nudge to the otherwise more subdued blue-chip averages.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 16.90 to 12,683.21, Charts) and the broader S&P 500 (up 2.82 to 1,450.82, Charts) index both added 0.3 percent more than an hour into the session.

The Nasdaq (up 12.51 to 2,484.00, Charts) composite added 0.8 percent.

Cisco Systems (Charts) reported quarterly sales and earnings late Tuesday that rose from a year earlier and topped forecasts. Shares gained 4 percent in the morning, giving back even bigger gains at the open.

The company's upbeat earnings report was a relief to investors after a string of discouraging technology sector financial reports.

Among other early technology movers, Broadcom (up $2.04 to $34.03, Charts) rose 6 percent in active Nasdaq trading after Morgan Stanley upgraded it to "overweight" from "equal weight," according to Reuters.

However, the blue-chip averages were mixed, with a few select gainers keeping the Dow industrials afloat, including Caterpillar (up $0.83 to $65.25, Charts) and DuPont (up $0.55 to $51.16, Charts).

Crude oil for March delivery rose 12 cents to $59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price of oil seesawed after the weekly inventories report showed a steeper-than-expected decline in heating oil supplies.

On the economic front, the first read on fourth-quarter productivity came in at a 3 percent growth rate, up from the previous month beating forecasts for a 2 percent reading. Unit labor costs, the report's inflation component, came in at a smaller-than-expected 1.7 percent rate. (Full story).

Treasury prices rose, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.75 percent from 4.76 percent late Tuesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

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

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