AAPL - New Product Release Run

• 1:44 PM AAPL by the numbers: In another tip of the hat to the world's largest company by market cap, The NY Times's David Leonhardt crunches the numbers to find that Apple's (AAPL) total market value is now higher than that of Google, Goldman Sachs, GM, Ford, Starbucks and Boeing combined.

• 11:19 AM There's Apple (AAPL), and there's everything else. In a slightly red S&P 500, Apple's stock stands out (nearly) alone as a big gainer, +3.5%.

• 9:30 AM Apple's (AAPL) price target is upped to $665 at Cannacord, which cites monthly channel checks indicating "very strong sales trends" for the iPhone 4S at all three U.S. carriers and overall strong iPhone sales in international markets. The firm increases its March quarter iPhone estimates to 32.6M units from 30.1M.
  

• 9:21 AM Apple (AAPL) plans to announce the launch of the iPad 3 in the first week of March, according to All Things Digital. Sources say the much-discussed next-generation iPad will feature a faster chip, improved graphics, and a retina display - falling in line with previous reports on the new device. Shares of AAPL +0.9% premarket.

• 8:18 AM Samsung (SSNLF.PK) notches up another victory in its world patent war with Apple (AAPL), as a German court backs a preliminary assessment that the Korean company's reworked Galaxy 10.1 isn't a copycat iPad. Samsung altered the design of the device to bypass a sales ban imposed in September.