Stocks are trading higher Tuesday thanks to news from Alcoa and an upgrade to Apple by Credit Suisse.

In mid-day trading the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up over 148 points and sitting at around 17,789.21. Earlier in the morning, the Dow hit 17,910.

Apple was upgraded from neutral to outperform by Credit Suisse. That caused shares of the technology company to soar. Lately, the company's shares are trading up almost two percent at $111.35.

Alcoa's fourth quarter earnings beat analysts estimates, and more fourth quarter earnings reports are upcoming from big companies.

Very low prices on oil are causing some companies to flourish, while others have been devastated.

"Collectively, the first 22 companies reporting [fourth quarter] 2014 results, including Alcoa last night, are off to their best start in any earnings season in over three years. The caveat though is that not one of those companies is in the energy sector," noted Nick Raich, CEO at the Earnings Scout.

Notable Stocks to Watch For:

Chevron (CVX) is down $0.68 to $105.20 in mid-day. The energy company has been on a decline in the last three months. On Oct. 31, 2014, the stock hit $119.95, but it has been falling ever since.

Johnson and Johnson (JNJ) is up $1.05 lately or 1 percent to $105.60 in mid-day trading. The medical and packaged goods company has been on a three-month rally after its stock dipped all the way to down to $96.78. It has been on an upward trend ever since. It is trading near its 52-week high of $109.49 (Nov. 13).

Starbucks (SBUX) is up about 1.6 percent to $81.51 in mid-day trading. The coffee retailer had been zig-zagging around the $75-79 mark for the last 12 months but has been on a recent rally since November 2014. Its 52-week high was $84.20 (Dec. 8). Good earnings from the company could get it close to that mark again.