Wall Street stocks rose on Wednesday, boosted by strong results from farm equipment maker Deere & Co, and data showing housing starts rebounded more strongly than expected.

Deere & Co posted first-quarter results that topped Wall Street expectations on cost cuts and strength at its in-house finance arm.

Shares of the company jumped 5.9 percent to $56.94

Deere had a 19 percent jump in earnings, had much better margins than people anticipated, but more importantly they boosted the full year forecast -- that is what is important here in the market, said Cort Gwon, Director of Research and Trading Strategies at FBN Securities in New York.

Deere being an international company has revenues in Asia, Europe and the U.S. and it is a really good indicator of the broad economy.

Data from the Commerce Department, which showed U.S. housing starts rose 2.8 percent to their highest level in six months in January, while permits fell slightly less than forecast, added further support to the market.

Homebuilder Lennar Corp rose 1.3 percent to $17.56. The Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction index <.DJUSHB> added 0.3 percent.

Federal Reserve data showed U.S. industrial output rose by a bigger-than-expected 0.9 percent in January. with gains recorded across all major categories.

Later in the session, the market gets minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting, which could include more detail on the rate-setting committee's expectations for ending its ultra-loose monetary policy.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 44.82 points, or 0.44 percent, to 10,313.63. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> advanced 5.56 points, or 0.51 percent, to 1,100.43. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> climbed 11.17 points, or 0.50 percent, to 2,225.36.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)

Manufacturing