Apple falls, along with other tech giants and the US stock market
Apple shares went down seven percent Tuesday, and down again six percent Friday amid the declining U.S. stocks.
Apple shares dropped Friday by 6% or $6.72, to only $106.02. Just this week, its stock went down to only 8.5%. This is something to be cautious about, considering that Apple is considered the pinnacle of this bull market and a top holding among individual investors. The mobile data boom is one of the major driver of this stock.
Along with the slump of Apple, the U.S. stocks also dropped, as Standard & Poor's 500 Index went close to its first correction. The last time it went through a correction was in 2011. This is happening as selloff in global equity markets are getting worse. Raw-material shares and energy companies are also dwindling down, experiencing the volatility of the market.
Besides Apple, other tech giants are also affected by the market volatility. Netflix and Facebook are among the companies that took a hit from the presently volatile days in Wall Street. One of the major reasons for this is the fear among investors who see signs of economic slowdown in China.
Going back to Apple's sluggish growth, investors fear that smartphone sales are slowing down. With pricing transparency, consumers will realise just how much they are truly paying for their iPhone. They may soon think about buying cheaper alternatives to these premium devices.
One more notable thing is Apple's slow growth in China, its last big growth market. Analysts, however, are still optimistic with Apple and its stocks. The company is still worth $618 billion, making it the most valuable in America. Despite analyts' positive outlook, investors are still cautious with Apple after seeing how ugly the company's selloffs have been in 2012 and 2013. Investors should just pray and hope that what happened in those years wont happen again any time soon.