10 things you need to know in markets today

1. Apple stock surged after it beat Wall Street's expectations for earnings per share and revenue on Tuesday, and the stock was up over 5% after-hours. Apple alsoissuedstrong revenue guidance for its fourth fiscal quarter, suggesting strong sales growth year-over-year. The strong guidance also hinted at the launch of a redesigned iPhone in September, which is expected to sell briskly.

2. Apple's iPad business is growing again.Afteryears of declining sales, the iPad business saw a boost last quarter, according toApple's Q3 earnings report. Apple sold 11.4 million iPads in the quarter, up from 9.95 million in the year-ago quarter. (That's 14% growth in unit sales.)

3. Bitcoin power brokers were unable to come behind a single solution that would have preserved a unified cryptocurrency by Tuesday morning's deadline.As such, the digital currency has officially forked and split in two: bitcoin cash and bitcoin. Miners were able to seek out bitcoin cash beginning Tuesday morning, and the cryptocurrency-focused news website CoinDesksaid the first bitcoin cashwas mined at about 2:20 p.m. ET.

4. Some bitcoin enthusiasts think this will only be the first split the cryptocurrency will experience. Peter Borovykh of Blockchain Driven, a blockchain technology company, told Business Insider that Tuesday's split set a precedent. "Bitcoin is no longer immutable," he said. "If one fork happens, then it could trigger an avalanche."

5. Uber reportedly addressed rumors that Travis Kalanick will return as CEO of the ride-hailing giant during an all-hands meeting on Tuesday.General counsel Salle Yoo told employees that the company is "looking forward" in its search for CEO — an apparent attempt to quiet rumors that Kalanick will stage a comeback,BuzzFeed News reported.

7. U.S. President Donald Trump is close to a decision on how to respond to what he considers China's unfair trade practices, a senior Trump administration official said on Tuesday.Trump is considering encouraging U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to initiate an investigation of Chinese trade practices under the 1974 Trade Act's section 301, the official said.

8. The British government published plans on Wednesday for a bill that would give it the legal power to impose sanctions after it leaves the European Union, including making it easier to cut off terrorism funding and freeze assets.Britain now negotiates and imposes non-UN sanctions against specific countries through EU laws. Without the new legislation, it would not have the legal authority to enforce those sanctions.

9. Facebook has designed a low-energy Bluetooth module to be used in a still-unspecified hardware device.The Bluetooth transmitter is attached to a printer circuit board, which Facebook says can only be installed by an original equipment manufacturer, according to FCC filings. In other words, it's a component that will be integrated into some sort of device, which Facebook is keeping under wraps for now (much of the info in the filings is still confidential).

10. Warehouse club retailer Costco Wholesale Corp said on Tuesday that its chairman and co-founder, Jeff Brotman, had passed away.Brotman, who founded the company along with James Sinegal in 1983, died early this morning, Costco said. Brotman, 75, had been the chairman since 1994.