Apple impressing Wall Street with better-than-expected results after the closing bell. The company also giving strong guidance and expressing optimism about the next generation iPhone.

Twitter out with very weak guidance on third quarter revenue, along with revenue that fell short of forecasts, even though the social media network grew it’s monthly active users by more than expected.

Weak earnings, including results from McDonald’s and Gilead Sciences, weighing on the U.S. financial markets. But tech stocks managed modest gains and the Major Indexes closed mixed.

Jeff Tomasulo, CEO of Vespula Capital:

(SOUNDBITE) JEFF TOMASULO, CEO, VESPULA CAPITAL, (ENGLISH) SAYING:

“You’ve seen McDonald’s today, they missed. So, again, I’m going to look at companies that are going to show me how growth is around the world, and that will give me a good indicator of how the economy is really behaving. “

Investors also closely watching the Fed policymakers meeting, which wraps up Wednesday. The central bank not expected to pull the trigger on interest rates in the near term.

New economic data they may be considering: consumer confidence held steady this month according to the Conference Board, and new single-family home sales hit their highest level in nearly eight and a half years in June. That’s from the Commerce Department.

Verizon reporting smaller-than-expected subscriber gains in its main wireless business. The company will now focus on combining the media and advertising technology assets of AOL and Yahoo, which it is buying for close to $5 billion.

Turning to Europe, the major indexes posted gains.