Apple, Facebook top Wall Street expectations

Tech juggernauts Apple and Facebook both beat already-high Wall Street expectations on Wednesday when they reported earnings for the holiday quarter.

Apple posted its most profitable quarter ever, fueled by sales of its new 5G iPhones - as well as Mac laptops and iPads, driven by consumers working, learning and playing from home.

CEO Tim Cook said iPhone sales in China rose 57%. In an interview with Reuters, Cook said Apple gained in China both from customers switching from rival Android devices as well as existing customers upgrading devices, but said "upgraders in particular set an all-time record in China."

Shares of Apple, the biggest public company in the U.S., fell slightly following the report but have risen more than 10 percent in just the past two weeks.

Facebook also posted record results on Wednesday, powered by increased ad spending by businesses to capitalize on a holiday shopping season moved mostly online.

The social network has launched a slew of new e-commerce products such as Facebook Pay and Facebook Shops that enable in-app purchases across the company's suite of apps, including Instagram.

Monthly active users also rose more than expected to 2.8 billion.

But shares of the world's biggest social media company fell after the close, later returning to about flat, after warning of "significant ad targeting headwinds in 2021" because of - guess who - Apple, saying its impending privacy changes could interfere with ad targeting and therefore hurt its revenue.