US stocks rally, Apple hits all-time high

Wall Street stocks rallied Tuesday, with tech giant Apple hitting an all-time high and investors applauding encouraging earnings from Coca-Cola and other upbeat company news.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 139.55 points (0.79 percent) to 17,868.76.
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 21.85 (1.07 percent) at 2,068.59, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index surged 61.63 (1.30 percent) to 4,787.64.
Apple, the largest US company by market capitalization, leaped to a record high close on the US tech giant's gains in the smartphone market, expansion of its mobile payments and its soon-to-arrive smartwatch.
Shares rose 1.9 percent to close at $122.02, lifting Apple's market value to $710 billion, the first company to hit the $700 billion milestone close.
JetBlue Airways announced it would be the first major domestic carrier in the US to accept Apple Pay, Apple's mobile payment tool, in-flight. JetBlue rose 2.1 percent.
First Solar jumped 4.8 percent after announcing that Apple agreed to commit $848 million for solar energy to power its data centers.
Dow member Coca-Cola rose 2.8 percent as fourth-quarter earnings translated into 44 cents per share, two cents above analyst estimates.
Starwood Hotels and Resorts added 6.6 percent as fourth-quarter earnings soared 82.8 percent to $234 million. Starwood also announced it would spin off its time-share business into a separate publicly traded company.
Chipmaker Qualcomm rose 4.7 percent following news it will settle an antitrust probe in China. Qualcomm will  pay $975 million and modify its business practices in the country. A note from Deutsche Bank said the agreement removes a major overhang from the stock.
General Motors added 4.2 percent as it disclosed that it received notice from a consortium of hedge funds seeking $8 billion in share repurchases. The shareholders also put forward Harry Wilson as a nominee to the GM board. GM said it would evaluate the candidacy of Wilson, who worked on the Obama administration's auto task force that helped with the automaker's bankruptcy restructuring.
Online listings and review site Yelp rose 5.9 percent after announcing it would acquire Eat24, an online food ordering service with access to about 20,000 restaurants across the US. The transaction is valued at $134 million.
Martin Marietta Materials, which sells concrete and other building materials, surged 15.2 percent as fourth-quarter earnings jumped 78 percent to $64 million.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury advanced to 1.99 percent from 1.96 percent Monday, while the 30-year rose to 2.58 percent from 2.54 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.