“Shares of Apple Inc. regrouped on Monday after Wall Street brushed off the impact of an explosion last week that shut a Foxconn factory in China producing its popular iPad,” Poornima Gupta and Clare Jim report for Reuters.
“Production at the plant in the southwestern city of Chengdu was suspended by Foxconn Technology Group, Apple’s biggest manufacturing partner, after three workers died in a Friday blast blamed on combustible dust in a duct,” Gupta and Jim report. “The incident stoked fears that production of the seminal tablet — already constrained by shortages of components and rabid demand — would again be disrupted. But the impact should be minimal because of Foxconn’s ability to rapidly shift output elsewhere in its sprawling network, coupled with Apple’s relying mainly on other locations, investors and analysts said.”
Gupta and Jim report, “While the impact on Apple is deemed minimal, investors in Hon Hai were worried about the fallout of the blast on the electronics supplier… A potential loss of orders from Apple could amp up the pressure on Hon Hai, which is already facing rising costs. Shares of Hon Hai in Taipei closed nearly 3 percent lower on fears Apple may shift orders to its rivals. They had dived as much as 5.2 percent following the news of the blast, to their lowest since late August.”
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