Stocks ride Cisco tide

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks continued to move higher Wednesday helped by stellar Cisco earnings while investors found comfort in yesterday's Federal Reserve statement.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index (up 42.88 to 2,604.48, Charts) led the charge, gaining more than 1.7 percent an hour into the session.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 87.79 to 13,592.09, Charts) rose about 0.6 percent while the broader S&P 500 (up 15.20 to 1,491.91, Charts) rose 1.1 percent.

Stocks finished Tuesday's session higher as investors appeared to be soothed that the Fed wasn't panicking about the turmoil in the credit market, but said higher inflation remained its main concern. (Read the Fed statement)

Central bank policymakers left a key short-term interest rate unchanged but didn't hint at future rate cuts.

Shares of Cisco Systems (Charts, Fortune 500) jumped after the computer networking company reported higher-than-expected earnings late Tuesday on stronger quarterly sales. Cisco shares climbed 5.6 percent in morning trade on the Nasdaq.

Sprint Nextel (Charts, Fortune 500), the No. 3 U.S. wireless service, posted lower quarterly profit on Wednesday but beat analysts' average forecast as it added new subscribers.

Luxury home builder Toll Brothers (Charts) issued a revenue warning Wednesday, troubling investors about a deepening crisis in the U.S. housing market.

McDonald's (Charts, Fortune 500), the world's largest fast-food chain, reported a strong 6.5 percent jump in its global sales in July, helped by the addition of new breakfast menu items.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (up $3.01 to $84.26, Charts, Fortune 500) shares climbed about 4 percent after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway revealed it increased its stake in the railroad firm.

The markets opened as scheduled despite disruptions of the New York transportation system due to severe weather.

Oil prices climbed on a surprise decline in gasoline inventories in the weekly U.S. inventory report. U.S. light crude for September delivery rose 52 cents to $72.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Treasury prices fell, lifting the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.85 percent, up from 4.77 percent late Tuesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The dollar eased against the euro and climbed versus the yen.

COMEX gold for December climbed $5.20 to $687.50 an ounce.

In overseas trading, European markets moved higher in midday trading while Asian markets also were in positive territory.