NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. rose 6.7 percent in Nasdaq trading as holiday demand beat estimates last quarter, helping allay concerns the recession and the absence of chief executive officer Steve Jobs will stymie growth.

Overseas demand for iPod players, Macintosh computers and iPhones offset a US slowdown and pushed quarterly sales past $10 billion for the first time, Apple said on Wednesday. Analysts had expected profit to drop for the first time in five years.

The cachet of Apple's products helped the company maintain orders and command premium prices, even as the economy shrank, job losses swelled and consumer lending dried up. By updating models and pushing into new countries, Apple was able to shrug off the worst holiday shopping season in four decades. The company also is coping with the temporary loss of its CEO, who is giving up his day-to-day role until June to take a medical leave.

"It shows that people, even in a downturn, like Apple products and want to buy them," said Andy Hargreaves, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Oregon. He's one of 25 analysts tracked by Bloomberg who recommend buying the shares.

Apple, based in Cupertino, California, rose $5.53 to $88.36 on the Nasdaq Stock Market yesterday. First-quarter net income rose 1.5 percent to $1.61 billion, or $1.78 a share, from $1.58 billion, or $1.76, a year earlier, Apple said. Sales rose 5.8 percent to $10.2 billion in the period ended December 27. Analysts in a Bloomberg survey estimated profit of $1.39 a share and sales of $9.76 billion.

Analysts had predicted a drop in profit after sales at U.S. retailers fell more than twice as much as forecast in December, the sixth straight month of declines. The US accounts for more than half of Apple's revenue.

"We are extremely proud of this very solid growth, particularly in contrast of the performance of the rest of the market," chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer told analysts on a call.