Apple is just what the doctor ordered for Wall Street after yesterday's slide.
Stocks are higher across the board with technology shares leading the advance thanks to stronger-than-expected earnings from Apple and Boeing.
Investors also waiting to see if the Federal Reserve will provide any clarity on when they plan on raising interest rates when they issue their policy statement at 2 p.m. EST.
Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Aaron Task says the Fed has to be even more patient about hiking rates with the global economy in turmoil, the uncertainty in Europe, especially Greece, and also given the fact the U.S. economy is not exactly firing on all cylinders.
Apple (AAPL) shares are soaring in early trading after it reported its best quarterly profit of any company in history on record iPhone sales...74.5 million to be exact during the holiday period. Profits surged more than 37%, crushing analysts' estimates. Revenue also topped forecasts, rising more than 29% from a year earlier.
Related: Apple shines; Boeing takes off; Yahoo jumps on spinoff
Boeing (BA) shares taking off as well. The aerospace giant beat on both its top and bottom lines in the fourth quarter thanks to strong demand for its commercial airplanes. However, the company gave a disappointing outlook for this year.
Yahoo (YHOO) shares also surging. Investors applauding the company's move to spin off its remaining $40 billion stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (BABA) into a separate publicly traded firm owned by Yahoo shareholders. The tax-free transaction is expected to save the company billions of dollars. Yahoo is the parent company of Yahoo Finance.
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AT&T (T) shares are higher. The wireless carrier posting earnings and revenue that slightly beat estimates as more customers took advantage of mobile deals during the last three months of last year. However, more subscribers switched to other networks at a faster rate.
Investors must be hungry for Shake Shack. The New York-based hamburger chain is bumping up its initial public offering that's coming this week. It will now sell more shares and is raising the price range by $3 to $17 to $19 dollars each.
Related: Shake Shack is cooking on Wall Street
And it's tax season....and so far it's been a taxing one for TurboTax maker Intuit (INTU). The company already has apologized and given refunds after changing software on its TurboTax Deluxe. Now USA Today reports Intuit keeps a database containing customers' names, Social Security numbers and other personal data — even for those who only work off their own desktops.
