U.S. stocks opened higher on Thursday. Strong gains from Cisco and Boeing pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average back above the 50,000-point level. The market is focused on Cisco's robust earnings report and high-level U.S.-China talks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 401.69 points, or 0.81%, to 50,094.89. The S&P 500 Index increased by 17.68 points, or 0.24%, to 7,461.93. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 43.993 points, or 0.17%, to 26,446.337.

Cisco's stock price surged after the software giant reported third-quarter results and guidance that exceeded Wall Street expectations and announced plans to cut nearly 4,000 jobs.

Cisco's advance boosted the Dow, helping it reclaim the 50,000 level it first touched earlier this year.

The Dow was also supported by Boeing, whose shares rose over 1% on market expectations that a U.S.-China leaders' summit could lead to some orders for the company. Additionally, Nvidia's stock rose more than 2%.

Cisco, Nvidia, and Amazon all contributed to the Dow's rebound. Cisco and Amazon have each gained 30% over the past two months, while Nvidia is up 25%. This rally in the Dow comes as conflict in the Middle East persists and elevated oil prices heighten investor concerns about inflation.

According to a White House official, Iran was a major topic of discussion during the U.S.-China summit on Thursday, with both sides agreeing that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open.

In prior trading sessions, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite reached new intraday and closing record highs, even as investors digested another hotter-than-expected inflation report.

While concerns over rising energy prices continued to weigh on other sectors of the market, technology stocks—particularly semiconductor companies like Nvidia and Micron Technology—fueled Wednesday's market rebound.

Looking ahead, Peter Mallouk, CEO of the investment firm Creative Planning, believes chipmakers may have more room to run.

"This is largely a tech-driven, very, very long bull market... This growth is coming from expected earnings. It's not a true speculative bubble. I actually think chipmakers as a whole are undervalued because this is a mega-trend... It seems we have so much demand waiting for supply to meet it, so there is a lot of runway left," Mallouk stated.