The major indexes opened higher following a three-quarter point rate cut by the Federal Reserve yesterday aimed at boosting the credit markets. Dow Jones climbed 25 points to 12,418 while Nasdaq added 3 points to 2271.

On the upside

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) posted lower revenues and profits, but beat expectations. Robust commodity and currency trading results offset weaknesses in mortgage-related and bond market results.

Adobe Systems (Nasdaq: ADBE) posted higher revenues and earnings that topped estimates. A strong outlook for 2008 boosted shares of the maker of Photoshop and Acrobat software.

The government planned to inject $200 billion into homebuyers by relaxing capital requirements at Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE).

On the downside

Shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) fell after the credit card provider reported lower profits after recenlty selling off its UK operation.

An analyst downgraded online retail auction service Priceline (Nasdaq: PCLN) on valuation.

Monster Worldwide (Nasdaq: MNST) lowered its 1st quarter due to higher costs. Analysts promptly downgraded the online career services company.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks added 4 points to 686.