Dow, S&P 500 Hit New Highs, Cisco Profit beats Street

U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday, with the Dow and S&P 500 hitting new all-time highs in a broad market rally as the recent upward momentum persisted. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 60.44 points, or 0.40 percent, to end at 15,275.69. The Standard & Poor’s 500 gained 8.44 points, or 0.51 percent, to finish at 1,658.78. The Nasdaq Composite added 9.01 points, or 0.26 percent, to close at 3,471.62.

Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO) posted an increase in quarterly revenue that was slightly ahead of Wall Street expectations. Profit for the fiscal third quarter ended on April 27 grew to $2.5 billion, or 46 cents per share, from $2.17 billion, or 40 cents per  share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue rose more than 5 percent to $12.2 billion from $11.6 billion.

Baby boomers preparing for retirement are driving a surge in small business sales, as they find more and more buyers confident  enough in the improving economy to expand their own businesses through acquisitions. In the first three months of this year,  the number of sales that closed jumped 56 percent from the same time in 2012, according to BizBuySell.com, an online  marketplace for small businesses.

A federal judge has again ordered Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) to pay $203 million to settle class action litigation accusing it of  imposing excessive overdraft fees on checking account customers, reviving an award that had been thrown out last year.