Stocks off to a higher start

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks moved cautiously higher Friday as investors weighed news of a Cisco stock buyback and an earnings warning from package delivery firm FedEx.

The Dow Jones industrial average (Charts) rose about 0.4 percent in the opening minutes of the session.

The broader S&P 500 index (Charts) climbed nearly 0.4 percent, while the tech-fueled Nasdaq (Charts) gained over 0.1 percent.

Helping stocks higher was an announcement by the network equipment company Cisco (Charts, Fortune 500), which said it would expand its share buyback program by $10 billion.

But that was offset by troubling news from package delivery firm FedEx (Charts, Fortune 500), which cut its earnings outlook Friday, citing higher fuel costs and a strained U.S. freight market.

Starbucks (Charts, Fortune 500) shares plunged over 8 percent lower after the company reported its quarterly results late Thursday. Its fourth-quarter earnings were strong, but the coffee retailer trimmed its fiscal 2008 guidance and reported a decline in traffic at its U.S. stores.

Department store operator Kohl's (Charts, Fortune 500) reported a drop in earnings late Thursday and also cut its earnings outlook.

And chipmaker AMD (Charts, Fortune 500) announced Friday it received a $622 investment from an Abu Dhabi-based investment firm.

Oil prices moved higher Friday as light, sweet crude for December gained $1.72 to $95.15 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

On the economic front, industrial production suffered its biggest decline in nine months during the month of October, the Federal Reserve said Friday. The reading came in worse than expected.

Overseas, markets in Asia finished sharply lower, while stocks in Europe were broadly lower in midday trading.