Apple Hits $3 Trillion in Market Value
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 kicked off the New Year with record closes Monday as government bond yields jumped, while Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) became the first company to reach $3 trillion in market capitalization.
The S&P 500 rose 0.6% to 4,796.56, the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.2% to 15,832.80 and the Dow gained 0.7% to 36,585.06. Energy and consumer discretionary stocks fared the best while the materials and health care sectors lagged.
iPhone sales during the holiday season topped 40 million units amid stronger-than-expected iPhone 13 demand, while the technology giant became the first company to hit a $3 trillion market cap Monday, a “flex the muscles moment” for Apple, according to Wedbush Securities.
The 10-year US Treasury yield jumped 14 basis points to 1.64%. Also, West Texas Intermediate crude oil gained 1% to $75.98 per barrel. New daily COVID-19 infections across the world have doubled in about a week to almost 1.5 million on average, according to the New York Times.
Anthony Fauci, the US government’s top infectious disease expert, was cited as saying Sunday hospitalizations, which are not rising as fast, are a more important barometer than reported cases for the severity of the omicron wave.
Elsewhere, Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX) received expanded emergency use authorization for COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for children as young as 12 from the US Food and Drug Administration as US cases surge to record highs.
Tesla’s (TSLA) fourth-quarter delivery numbers beat the most bullish market estimates amid “robust” Model 3 and Model Y sales, Wedbush said in a research note. Shares of the automaker surged 13.5%, the most on the S&P 500.
In economic news, the IHS Markit US manufacturing index for December was revised lower to 57.7 from the flash reading of 57.8, right on expectations in a Bloomberg survey.
US construction spending rose 0.4% in November after a similar October gain, compared with a forecast for an increase of 0.7% in a Bloomberg poll.
In the metals markets, gold was down 1.4% to $1,802.20 per troy ounce, silver fell 1.8% to $22.93 an ounce and copper dropped 0.9% to $4.42 per pound.
Technology stocks rallied Monday afternoon, with the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) advancing 0.7% while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index gained 1.9%.
Apple (AAPL) was finishing 2.4% higher on Monday, earlier climbing 3% to a best-ever $182.88 a share.
In a new research note, Wedbush Monday said demand for Apple’s iPhone 13 has been outstripping supply by a significant margin, providing a tailwind as the supply chain issues ease in the first half of 2022.
On Jan. 3, 1977, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak incorporated Apple Computer Corp. The S&P 500 was trading at around 107.0 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading at 999.75.
Apple got its start back in the 1970s as a maker of personal computers like the Apple II and the Macintosh. The company had its IPO in 1980, trading on the NASDAQ market under the ticker AAPL, the same ticker that it uses as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) to this day.
Younger investors know Apple as the unstoppable tech juggernaut that has created some of the most successful digital products of all time, but it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Apple.
Visionary founder Jobs was booted from the company in 1985 after-sales numbers consistently disappointed investors.
Jobs returned to the company in 1996 and became interim CEO a year later. The company struck gold with the iPod in 2001 and single-handedly changed the smartphone market with the first iPhone in 2007. Today, Apple is the largest company in the S&P 500.
Meanwhile, India’s antitrust watchdog has ordered an investigation into how Apple runs its App Store, adding to a growing list of countries challenging the tech giant’s business practices.
This is one of the series of antitrust probes slammed on the tech giants in 2021.
The probe will focus on Apple’s in-app payments system and whether the iPhone maker’s 30% cut on in-app transactions “harms software makers and stifles competition.”
Similarly, the Netherlands recently ordered Apple to change its payment policies, and investigations are ongoing in Russia and Germany.
# Apple Hits $3 Trillion in Market Value
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