Apple is one of the two largest American corporations by market capitalization - depending on the day, it either leads or trails ExxonMobil- but even that momentous fact may understate its impact on our economy. As you probably know, on Tuesday the electronics behemoth announced record-breaking profits for the fourth quarter of 2011: Its more than $13 billion in net earnings was not only the largest ever for Apple, but the second-largest ever by any American corporation. (Exxon reported a larger quarterly profit back in 2008.)
That growth was enough to catapult the earnings for the entire S&P 500 into the black. Prior to Apple's earnings report, earnings for the S&P 500 as a whole were down 4.2 percent in the fourth quarter. But after Apple's report, the net for the entire S&P 500 is now up 4.4 percent.
Apple not only doubled its profits from the year earlier, it beat the analysts' estimates by a whopping $7 billion, which is also a record. For all that, Apple's share price rose 6 percent in trading yesterday, reaching a record high of $454.45.
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