Markets Right Now: An early gain for stocks fades by midday
Apple jumped 5.6 percent to its highest price in more than a year after saying that its iPhone sales improved in its last quarter, breaking a slump.
Encouraging news on hiring and a strong earnings report from Apple helped send U.S. stocks higher in early trading.
Apple jumped 5 percent early Wednesday, the biggest gain in the Dow Jones industrial average, after reporting a day earlier that the iPhone snapped out of the first sales slump in its history.
In economic news, payroll provider ADP reported that U.S. companies ramped up hiring in January.