Written by Felix Richter, Statista.com
— this post authored by Niall McCarthy and Econintersect
Last month proved hugely dramatic for Apple with its stock tumbling nearly ten percent by the close of trading Thursday 03 January.
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The company cut its forecast for its first fiscal quarter due to slowing economic growth in China and a drop in demand for iPhones. The situation did improve on Friday when the company was up 4.3 percent at the end of trading but it did end the week down 5.1 percent. January 03 was Apple’s worst day trading since 2013 and the company lost just over $450 billion in market capitalization since October 3, 2018.
Some analysts claimed the slump was little more than a minor blip while others claimed it is a major disaster. Either way, the scale of the wipeout is colossal. As the following infographic shows, the $452 billion loss is higher than the market capitalization of Facebook and six times the size of Starbucks’ market value.
Apple beat Amazon to claim the title of the world’s first trillion-dollar company after its shares reached $207.05. After the crash on Thursday, its market capitalization sank to $674 billion before recovering slightly to $703 billion with shares worth $142.19. There is an obvious lack of a game-changing product in Apple’s pipeline and some observers have suggested it takes the unprecedented step of acquiring another company to improve its fortunes and satisfy investors. Given its track record, however, such a move appears highly unlikely.
Added note by Econintersect:
Since January 03 AAPL has rallied significantly. At the close of trade Friday February 01 the stock was at $166.52, the highest price since December 13 and up more than 17% from January 03.
The first chart below shows AAPL over the last month, capturing the entire rally.
The second chart below covers the last three years, giving a better contextual setting for evaluating the recent price action. Notice that there were strong support levels below the October high at 190, 170, and 150. The first two were passed like a knife through soft butter. But 150 has held like a rock so far and now the technical question is will the former support levels which are now acting as resisteance prove difficult for AAPL to move above? It certainly looks likely that 170 will be tested next week.
You will find more infographics at Statista.
