Dow: -58 at 12,618
Nasdaq: +11 at 2,797
S&P 500: -3 at 1,312

US stocks opened mixed on Wednesday morning ahead of an interest rate decision from the Federal Reserve and a press conference with Chairman Ben Bernanke. Both the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 were slightly lower, while some impressive quarterly results from Apple were lifting the tech-heavy Nasdaq index.

As the World Economic Forum's annual meeting begins today in Switzerland and Federal Reserve policy makers convene in Washington, 48% of respondents predict the US will be among the world's best-performing markets this year, according to the quarterly poll of 1,209 investors, analysts and traders who are Bloomberg subscribers that was conducted Jan. 23-24. That's the highest rating for the US since the poll began in 2009 and it's more than twice that of Brazil and China, the second-ranked markets.

Much commented, in his State of the Union address last night, President Obama called on Congress to raise taxes on those making $1m or more to at least 30%.

APPLE IMPRESSES EVERYONE IN Q1

The big news on the Street today was tech giant Apple whose first quarter earnings smashed expectations on both the revenue and profit levels. Apple was helped higher in mid-morning trade after Goldman Sachs labelled the stock as under-priced.

Goldman observed, "revenues of $46.33bn and EPS [earnings per share] of $13.87 were well above both our estimates of $38.18bn and $9.94 and consensus of $38.86bn and $10.08." The US investment bank noted that Apple, normally a company inclined to under-promise and over-deliver, has raised earnings guidance for the second quarter to a level above the consensus view of analysts covering the stock.

Goldman reiterated its "buy" recommendation and raised its 12-month target price to $600 from $550. Apple shares currently trade at around $445.

Elsewhere, Illumina surged over 40% after Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche Holding made a $5.7bn offer for US company, an 18% premium over its closing price on Tuesday. The offer is unsolicited after several failed attempts to negotiate the deal, reports The Wall Street Journal

Shares in oil company ConocoPhillips fell in spite of its fourth quarter earnings topping analysts' estimates. Earnings per share came in at $2.02, easily topping the consensus estimate of $1.79.

Investors in industrial technology firm United Technologies also seemed underwhelmed after the group reported a better-than-expected 10.5% earnings growth for the fourth quarter due to greater sales for its Otis elevators and at its airplane unit Hamilton Sundstrand.

MACROECONOMY

Pending home sales fell by 3.5% on the month in December.

FOMC announcement expected at 19:15pm.

BC

S&P 500 - Risers
Textron Inc. (TXT) $24.80 +14.76%
CA Inc. (CA) $25.14 +10.17%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $447.46 +6.43%
Bemis Co. Inc. (BMS) $31.86 +6.25%
Life Technologies Corp. (LIFE) $49.59 +4.82%
Total System Services Inc. (TSS) $21.94 +4.78%
St Jude Medical Inc. (STJ) $39.88 +3.42%
Waters Corp. (WAT) $87.81 +3.26%
Regions Financial Corp. (RF) $5.39 +3.06%
Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) $9.44 +3.06%

S&P 500 - Fallers
TE Connectivity Ltd (TEL) $31.92 -10.60%
Corning Inc. (GLW) $13.11 -10.33%
Molex Inc. (MOLX) $25.01 -8.82%
Xerox Corp. (XRX) $8.10 -6.57%
Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI) $47.73 -6.04%
WellPoint Inc. (WLP) $65.45 -5.69%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $14.23 -4.75%
Praxair Inc. (PX) $104.21 -4.48%
Rockwell Automation Inc. (ROK) $78.33 -4.18%
W.W. Grainger Inc. (GWW) $195.16 -4.10%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
American Express Co. (AXP) $49.68 +0.91%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $64.81 +0.48%
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $7.32 +0.41%
General Electric Co. (GE) $18.89 +0.27%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $49.51 +0.20%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $106.47 +0.17%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $98.86 +0.11%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $67.91 +0.01%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Boeing Co. (BA) $73.12 -2.97%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $76.62 -1.49%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $26.53 -1.34%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $28.18 -1.19%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $189.70 -1.16%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $19.58 -1.16%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $86.19 -1.14%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $10.16 -1.10%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $105.66 -0.99%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $37.47 -0.85%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $54.06 +43.44%
CA Inc. (CA) $25.14 +10.17%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $447.46 +6.43%
Life Technologies Corp. (LIFE) $49.59 +4.82%
Nll Holdings Inc. (NIHD) $19.39 +2.46%
Qiagen N.V. (QGEN) $16.07 +2.39%
Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM) $15.30 +1.93%
BMC Software Inc. (BMC) $35.19 +1.51%
Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) $35.63 +1.16%
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $17.00 +0.74%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $14.23 -4.75%
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $44.31 -3.22%
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $35.16 -2.50%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $12.02 -2.16%
Flextronics International Ltd. (FLEX) $6.66 -2.06%
Logitech International S.A. (LOGI) $8.00 -1.96%
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (MXIM) $27.26 -1.94%
Google Inc. (GOOG) $571.30 -1.66%
Dell Inc. (DELL) $16.58 -1.57%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $27.25 -1.48%

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