Apple shares jump after earnings smash estimates

Updated: 5:57 p.m. ET

Apple (AAPL) shares jumped as much as 11% after hours today as the company reported a 118% gain in net income along with a 73% gain in revenue in its first fiscal quarter.

The results, which included sales of of 37 million iPhones and 15.4 iPads, came after the stock market finished down slightly as traders fretted that the negotiations on restructuring Greek debt were coming apart.

Apple reported earnings of $13.87 a share, or $13.06 billion, on revenue of $46.33 billion for the quarter. Analysts had expected $10.08 a share in earnings and revenue of $38.55 billion. The results came after Apple had missed estimates in its fiscal fourth quarter. At 5:47 p.m. ET, Apple shares were up 7.4% to $451.51. The shares had dropped $7 to $420.41 in regular trading.

Wall Street is hoping the results kick-start a market that's seemed lethargic this week after three straight weeks of gains.  Futures trading suggests stocks will open higher on Wednesday.

The Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) finished down 33 points to 12,676. The blue chips had fallen as many as 95 points right after the open. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX) was off 1 point to 1,315; the index had dropped to as low as 1,306. The Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPX) was up 2 points to 2,787 after sliding to as low as 2,766. The Nasdaq-100 Index ($NDX), which tracks the largest Nasdaq stocks, was down 3 points to 2,434.

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Apple can heavily influence the market. Its shares represent some 12% of the market capitalization of the Nasdaq-100 index. And component makers for its products include a who's who of tech land, such as Qualcomm (QCOM), Broadcom (BRCM) and others.

Broadcom was up 3.4% after hours to $36.40 after rising 76 cents in regulat trading. Qualcomm had climbed $1.17 after hours to $59.85.

Rivals such as Google (GOOG), whose Android operating system powers many competing devices, and Microsoft (MSFT) were modestly higher after hours. (Microsoft is the publisher of MSN Money.)

Yahoo's results are flat
Investors seemed indifferent to fourth-quarter results from Yahoo (YHOO) after the close. Shares were off 10 cents to $15.59.

Yahoo's net income fell to $296 million from a year ago's $312 million. Earnings per share were unchanged at 24 cents.

Revenue net of payments to partners (known as traffic acquisition costs) was $1.17 billion. That's down from $1.21 billion a year ago. Wall Street had expected 24 cents a share in earnings and revenue of $1.19 billion.

The company said it expects revenue net of traffic acquisition costs of $1.03 billion to $1.11 billion in the first quarter. Shares gained a penny in regular trading to $15.69, and gained another penny after hours.

Europe re-emerges as a problem
European finance ministers pushed bondholders to provide greater debt relief for Greece. That boosted fears the nation may miss a March 20 bond payment. The latest iteration of the Greek debt crisis weighed on stocks in Europe, especially bank stocks. Many U.S. bank stocks were also lower today.

Europe had been fairly quiet this month. Not so today with the Greek problem erupting again.

The European uncertainty also weighed on nonfinancial stocks. McDonald's (MCD) beat Street estimates for fourth-quarter results, but the company warned that currency fluctuations could trim 2012 profits by 16 to 18 cents a share. Shares fell $2.20 to $98.75, the second-worst performer among the 30 Dow stocks.

Adding to the day's stress, the International Monetary Fund trimmed its global growth estimates for the year to 3.3%, but warned the eurozone debt crisis could knock an additional two percentage points off worldwide output if eurozone leaders don't act soon.

The IMF said inaction could push the teetering eurozone headlong into a severe recession where growth contracts by 4% over the next two years.

This evening, President Barack Obama will lay out what he calls a "blueprint" for revitalizing the economy in his third State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress. 

• A look at the economy ahead of Obama's speech
  

Separately, the Federal Reserve began a two-day policy meeting. Its decisions will be announced at 12:30 p.m. ET Wednesday. Chairman Ben Bernanke will hold a new conference at 2:15 p.m. ET. 

The announcement will also include the Fed's first explicit projections of interest rates, inflation and possibly a target for the unemployment rate.

Energy prices -- New York close
			Tues.			Mon.			Month chg.			YTD chg.
Crude oil (-CL)			$98.95			$99.58			0.12%			0.12%
(per barrel)
Heating oil (-HO)			$3.0151			$3.0035			3.46%			3.46%
(per gallon)
Natural gas (-NG)			$2.5540			$2.5250			-14.55%			-14.55%
(per mil. BTU)
Unleaded gasoline (-RB)			$2.8105			$2.7856			5.76%			5.76%
(per gallon)
Brent crude			$110.03			$110.58			2.47%			2.47%
(per barrel)
Retail gasoline			$3.3810			$3.3830			3.43%			3.43%
(per gallon; AAA)

Oil, gold and silver drop; dollar moves higher

The dollar was higher today as the uncertainty in Europe took center stage yet again.

That pushed oil prices, gold and silver lower.

Crude oil (-CL) in New York settled down 63 cents to $98.95 a barrel. Brent crude was off 38 cents to $110.20 a barrel.

Gold (-GC), meanwhile, settled down off $13.80 to $1,664.50 an ounce. Silver (-SI) dropped 19 cents to $32.08 an ounce. Copper (-HG), however, was up slightly to $3.80 a pound.

Despite the dollar's gains, the 10-year Treasury yield was at 2.064%, down from 2.067% on Monday. 

A big game of chicken on Greece

Late Monday, eurozone finance ministers rebuffed a deal presented by private owners of Greek debt as a "maximum" offer for the losses they are willing to sustain. The rebuff opened a fresh round of brinkmanship in tortuous negotiations to ease the country’s debt load.

A deal between the Greek government and the banks that hold Greek national bonds is considered to be the key to the stability of the European financial system. Investors fear that if Greece can't pay its debt, it could trigger a panic.

Greece is trying to get its private creditors to swap their Greek government bonds for new ones with half their face value. But the interest rate has been a stumbling block. Greece faces that important bond repayment deadline in March. 

At the same time, the Greek government is under tremendous pressure to find a way to get its economy growing again.

Leaders and laggards

Polycom (PLCM) surged $2.43 to $20.85.  The largest independent maker of videoconference systems reported fourth-quarter earnings excluding some items of 41 cents a share, exceeding the 29-cent average estimate by analysts.

Western Digital (WDC) gained $2.17 to $36.88, fifth-best among S&P 500 stocks. The maker of disk drives and networking products reported second-quarter revenue of $2 billion, surpassing the average analyst estimate of $1.84 billion.

Collective Brands (PSS) rose 95 cents to $15.89. The maker of Saucony and Sperry Top-Sider shoes -- which said in August it was reviewing options to boost shareholder value -- may attract interest from buyout firms and rivals such as Wolverine World Wide when bids are due next week, Bloomberg News said. The company could be worth as much as $27 a share based on the value of its separate businesses, Morningstar said.

EMC (EMC) gained $1.70 to $25.14. The world's biggest maker of storage computers reported a 32% gain in fourth-quarter earnings, helped by demand for its products and software from majority-owned VMware (VMW).

VMware, the biggest maker of software that lets computers run multiple operating systems, jumped $6.66 to $92.66. The company reported sales and profit that topped estimates as corporations bought more programs to make servers more efficient.

Travelers Companies (TRV) slipped $2.29 to $58. It was the worst performer among the 30 Dow stocks. The only insurer among Dow stocks said fourth-quarter profit fell 31% on lower investment income and a smaller benefit from reserves. 

Verizon Communications (VZ) shares were lower after its results missed estimates. Its decline of 61 cents to $37.79 was the third-biggest percentage loss in the Dow. The second-largest U.S. phone company reported a fourth-quarter loss after booking a pension charge and having higher subsidy costs for rising iPhone sales.

Peabody Energy (BTU) dropped 65 cents to $36.86. The biggest U.S. coal producer posted fourth-quarter profit that missed analysts' estimates and said output will be curbed at the Twentymile mine in Colorado.

Zions Bancorporation (ZION) had the biggest loss in the S&P 500, falling $1.40 to $17.15. The Salt Lake City-based bank was cut to "hold" from "buy" at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. after reporting fourth-quarter earnings that missed the average analyst estimate. 

Short hits from the markets -- New York close
			Tues.			Mon.			Month chg.			YTD chg.
Treasury yields
13-week Treasury bill			0.0400%			0.040%			300.00%			300.00%
5-year Treasury note			0.901%			0.911%			8.55%			8.55%
10-year Treasury note			2.064%			2.067%			10.32%			10.32%
30-year Treasury bond			3.157%			3.146%			9.28%			9.28%
Currencies
U.S. Dollar Index			80.026			79.934			-0.62%			-0.62%
British pound			1.5618			1.5571			0.52%			0.52%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. $ in pounds			£0.640			£0.642			-0.51%			-0.51%
Euro in dollars			$1.30			$1.30			0.56%			0.56%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. $ in euros			€ 0.768			€ 0.768			-0.56%			-0.56%
U.S. $ in yen			77.88			76.98			1.01%			1.01%
U.S. $ in Chinese			6.33			6.32			0.12%			0.12%
yuan
Canada dollar			$0.000			$1.008			-100.00%			-100.00%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. dollar			$1.010			$1.008			-1.03%			-1.03%
(in Canadian $)
Commodities
Gold (-GC)			$1,664.50			$1,678.30			6.24%			6.24%
(per troy ounce)
Copper (-HG)			$3.808			$3.799			10.81%			10.81%
(per pound)
Silver (-SI)			$31.9750			$32.2700			14.54%			14.54%
(per troy ounce)
Wheat (-ZW)			$6.3350			$6.1975			-2.95%			-2.95%
(per bushel)
Corn (-ZC)			$6.3025			$6.200			-2.51%			-2.51%
(per bushel)
Cotton			$0.9854			0.9946			7.48%			7.48%
(per pound)
Coffee			$2.2350			2.2255			-2.68%			-2.68%
(per pound)
Crude oil (-CL)			$98.95			$99.58			0.12%			0.12%
(per barrel)