Stocks Opened Higher on Earnings

U.S. stocks opened sharply higher on Wednesday as earnings from Apple and Boeing, among others, helped to bolster investment sentiment on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately rose 226.03 points, or 0.92%, to 24,805.99. The S&P 500 advanced 11.38 points, or 0.43%, to 2,651.38. The Nasdaq Composite gained 52.45 points, or 0.75%, to 7,080.74.

Oil prices on Wednesday extended their climb from two-week lows hit at week’s start, drawing ongoing support from U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s state-run oil company. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was up 47 cents, or 0.9%, to $53.80 a barrel. March Brent crude rose 59 cents, or 1%, to $61.91 a barrel.

Boeing Co. (BA) reported fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that rose well above expectations, and provided an upbeat full-year outlook. Net income grew to $3.42 billion, or $5.93 a share, from $3.32 billion, or $5.49 a share, in the same period a year ago. Revenue climbed 14% to $28.34 billion.

Apple Inc. reported $4.18 per share in earnings for the December quarter on revenue of $84.3 billion. The key metric in Apple’s fiscal first-quarter release was its March-quarter revenue outlook, which came in at $55 billion to $59 billion.

McDonald’s (MCD) reported stronger-than-expected results in Q4. The fast-food chain earned $1.97 per share during Q4. It reported revenue of $5.16 billion which was slightly softer than consensus estimates of $5.17 billion. Same-store sales grew 4.4%. Analysts were predicting about 4% growth during Q4.

Alibaba (BABA) reports lower-than-expected revenue in its December quarter earnings. It posted 117.28 billion yuan ($17.5 billion) in quarterly revenue on Wednesday. The company’s adjusted earnings per share of $1.77 slightly beat analysts’s estimates.