Stocks Finish Mixed; Apple Casts Shadow

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Wall Street finished mixed on Tuesday with the Dow pushed higher by positive earnings reports and a dividend hike from IBM(IBM) , and the Nasdaq tripped up by weakness in Apple(AAPL) .

The market put aside worries about Europe for the day, instead focusing on solid numbers from AT&T(T) and 3M(MMM) , as well as Big Blue's plans to boost its quarterly payout by 13% and buy back up to $7 billion worth of its stock.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 74 points, or 0.6%, to close at 13,001. Earlier in the session, the price-weighted index ran as high as 13,050. The S&P 500 tacked on 5 points or 0.4% to finish at 1372.

The Nasdaq slipped 8 points, or 0.3%, to settle at 2961. Apple was a headwind for the index, falling 2%. Shares of the iPad and iPhone maker have now fallen in 10 of the past 11 sessions.

It was a different story after the closing bell though as the stock flew more than 7% higher in the extended session. The iconic company reported fiscal second-quarter earnings of $12.30 a share on revenue of $39.2 billion, trouncing Wall Street's expectations for a profit of $10.04 a share.

The company sold 35.1 million iPhones during the quarter, up 88% from a year ago. The third-quarter outlook looks light however. Apple expects earnings of $8.68 a share in the June-ending period on revenue of $34 billion, below the current consensus view for a profit of $9.93 a share on revenue of $37.45 billion.

Tuesday's economic data was benign with consumer confidence coming in slightly below expectations but new home sales and the Case-Shiller home price index supportive of slow but continuing improvement in the housing market.