Tech Earnings Beat Expectations and the World Economic Forum Convenes: Market Recap

The markets were off to a mixed start on Tuesday morning after a long weekend, but found their legs in the afternoon. Positive expectations for tech earnings this week helped pull the NASDAQ into late gains.

At the close: DJIA: +0.46%, S&P 500: +0.44%, NASDAQ: +0.27%.

On the commodities front, Oil (NYSE:USO) climbed o.64 percent to $96.65 per barrel. Precious metals were also up, with Gold (NYSE:GLD) climbing 0.27 percent to $1,691.70 per ounce, and Silver (NYSE:SLV) climbing 0.93 percent to $32.23 per ounce. The yield for the 10-year T-bill fell 0.003 points to 1.839 percent.

Here’s your Cheat Sheet to today’s top stock stories:

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) released fourth-quarter results that sent its shares up 4.5 percent in after-hours trading. Consolidated revenues climbed 36 percent to $14.42 billion. Total clicks climbed 24 percent, but average cost per click fell 6 percent… (Read more.)

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IBM (NYSE:IBM) shot up 3.5 percent after posting an earnings beat. Net income increased 11.1 percent to $6.1 billion, or $5.39 per diluted share, beating estimates by 14 cents… (Read more.)

Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) December quarter earnings, scheduled to be released tomorrow after the bell, are being seen as the most important in several years for the company. After all, the iPhone maker’s stock has been under considerable distress over the past few months on investor concerns about its long-term growth prospects. To add to the pressure, there have been recent reports claiming decreased iPhone and iPad demand in the ongoing quarter… (Read more.)