Apple, Amazon Amaze

Apple and Amazon.com gave investors reason to cheer on Wednesday, a day that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average close above 13,000 for the first time and the S&P climb within 2% of its all-time high.

Amazon shares soared 26% during Wednesday’s trading session after the online retailing giant posted earnings that were well above estimates.

Apple repeated the feat after the close, reporting earnings of 87 cents a share — 23 cents above Wall Street forecasts. Sales rose 20% to $5.26 billion, beating $5.17 billion estimates. Apple’s iPod sales of 10.55 million units and current quarter guidance were a little light of estimates, but traders focused on the top line and strong Mac sales of 1.52 units, sending the stock 8% higher in after-hours trading.

“The Mac is clearly gaining market share, with sales growing 36 percent — more than three times the industry growth rate,” CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement. “We’re very excited about the upcoming launch of iPhone in late June, and are also hard at work on some other amazing new products in our pipeline.”

Jobs also received a vote of confidence from Apple’s board for his handling of the company’s stock option scandal.

Strong corporate earnings and durable orders and a tame read on inflation from the Federal Reserve pushed the Dow to record heights during the day.

Sun Microsystems was left out of the party, falling 11% after missing sales estimates.

Corning and Riverbed rose on their results.

Akamai , Checkfree , Cymer , Hutchinson , Datalink and Travelzoo fell on their earnings reports.

The Nasdaq surged 23 to 2547, the S&P 500 gained 15 to 1495, and the Dow soared 136 to 13,090. Volume rose to 3.25 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.73 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancing issues led by a 22-9 margin on the NYSE, and 18-12 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 82% on the NYSE, and 63% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 400-17 on the NYSE, and 202-52 on the Nasdaq.

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