The markets opened higher, but investors remained wary about rising oil prices and the ongoing credit crunch. The Dow rose 46 points to 13,589 while Nasdaq added 9 points to 2807.

On the upside

Shares of Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM) rose after the agribusiness giant posted higher profits.

Solar cell maker First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR) signed a supply agreement expected to generate about $1 billion in sales.

Nortal Networks (NYSE: NT) returned to profitability as the Canadaian telecom equipment maker boosted margins against lower revenues.

On the downside

Molson Coors Brewing (NYSE: TAP) posted lower profits for the 3rd quarter due to costs associated with a brewery closure and weak sales in Britain.

Hong Kong investors snapped up shares of Alibaba.com which tripled in value on its first day of trading. The e-commerce portal is 39% owned by Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO).

Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: JAVA) posted a small profit mostly due to cost-cutting measures. However, revenue results missed targets.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 3 to 2 on the NYSE and by a margin of 10 to 9 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks held steady at 790.