“Thursday was another one of those bizarre trading days for Apple (AAPL),” Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune. “At about 1:50 p.m., the volume jumped and the stock fell off a cliff, dropping at one point to 318.33, more than $10 below its high for the day.”
“The last time Apple closed below $320 was in early December. Since then, the company has reported two quarters of 75.2% and 92.2% earnings growth, respectively,” P.E.D. reports. “It’s not clear what it has done to deserve this kind of treatment.”
P.E.D. reports, “Among the dwindling numbers of retail Apple investors, there was the usual talk of market manipulation and calls for reform of the weekly options markets, which some believe have become the tail that wags the underlying stock.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
Besides, at market close, AAPL had recovered to the point where it closed down only 0.49% (-$1.59) at $325.16 per share. In after-hours trading, it’s up to $326.00. Anybody get in at $318-ish?
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Mike H.” for the heads up.]
Because some of us were ready to purchase our iPhone 5, Time Capsule, & new MBA last week and couldn’t.
Any ideas as to why this happened?
I would defenatelly like to know what the hell is going on!
I hope someone on this blog can answer this question.
Simply put: Final Cut Pro X.
Pro film makers hate it because it’s just like iMovie, so not only will they not buy FCP X, but they’re going head to Avid and Adobe – and bear in mind if you build your own computer system, that costs a lot less than the £16,000 editors often spend on a new mac pro.
Furthermore, Consumer and Prosumer users aren’t going to buy FCPX because it’s more or less dressed up iMovie – anybody can see that – and who is going to pay £200 for software which comes free with their mac, which they’ve just paid £999 for?
Then there’s iCloud not having support for websites – essentially lack of support is why apple customers are getting turned off.
That and you have to look at apple’s structure – which is that it all pretty much revolves around Steve Jobs, as though nobody at apple is competent enough to be able to run a company without him, or somebody like him being in power.
The masses are starting to see this, and it’s only a matter of time before apple crashes in a very, very big way.
I heard there is a global market correction.
Why would we think stock manipulation?
Likewise, why would we expect the SEC and others to be interested?
These things happen because someone(s) make a lot of money, and the supposed regulators look the other way, for the same reason.
Take a look at the daily chart for AAPL, and compare that with today’s chart for the DOW, NASDAQ, and S&P500. They look pretty much the same. Because AAPL is seen as a high-flier (even though it’s currently at fire sale prices) it tends to drop a little faster than the overall market on days like this, but it also recovers faster. As a result, the V-shaped spike is a little deeper for AAPL than for the rest of the market. The rest of the market is (today) worried about the Greek situation, and AAPL is just following along.
Because obviously the iPad market in Greece is a major portion of Apple’s bottom line.
Bought some at market opening Tuesday- pretty decent price going forward. Wasn’t tracking the markets at the time- I was kicking my Nephew’s ass at NBA Jam.
Looks like Google took the same type of rollercoaster ride. Maybe a geopolitical reaction to an event or announcement.
200 day moving average stops losses got tripped?
Easy. Options stopped trading on CBOE today for tomorrow’s expiration. It happens every month. It’s always volatile. But it’s hard to trade on it.
For those who want to know why this happened – one word.
M A N I P U L A T I O N !
Idiot.
I’d like to know exactly how people are manipulating Apple stock. People always cry about manipulation yet no one ever has any supporting evidence.
I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, I just never hear anyone talk about HOW it’s being done, and give specific examples of why on a certain day it happened.
That’s cos the brokers got it down to a fine art.
Is it a coincident that options expire tomorrow and the stock is right at the max pain point.
Someone’s making a bundle on this at others expense.
This crap about the market is risky is bs. Only for those who arent in the game.
“It’s not clear what it has done to deserve this kind of treatment.”
Yes, we know about deceitful (psychopathic?) stock manipulators.
But neglect ye not the affect of Day Trader Dolts. Greece is going bankrupt. Gotta sell that Apple stock. 😯
Big money moves equities and that’s about it. Individual investors aren’t even a blip on the screen. If they weren’t “manipulating” it on the way up they’re not doing so on the way down.
This is a good thing and if you know how, you can make money off of it. As in, following the big money. The banks, mutual funds, hedge funds, etc. The market is in correction and who knows if AAPL has had its run. It really doesn’t matter if you invest with the trend buying institutional quality stocks and at proper buy points.
Think of it this way, it can take weeks or even months for one large mutual fund to acquire even 2% of their portfolio in a given equity. You can see their “foot print” in terms of volume and price action. You know when they’re buying and you know when they’re selling. Guess what, they’re currently selling. Now imagine if many large firms decide to buy and sell. THAT is what moves price in large volume. Look for it and learn to ready it.
On today’s action, did you notice how buyers rushed in at the end of the session to prop the price in the upper half of its buying range? That’s called support buying and you want to watch and see if that continues to hold and form a new support area.
If it does, look for the stock to setup a new buy point at some time in the future. If not, at least your money isn’t going down with it.
Apple can be a great company and have a lousy stock. Hey, remember when MSFT ruled the NASDAQ? Were they ever a “great” company in terms of quality? My point is, don’t get to personal with your stocks. Shorting them is not evil and buying and holding them forever is usually not very smart for the individual investor.
Now if we could just make insider trading legal again… the markets would be so much easier to trade. Wonder if anyone here knows why someone would think such a thing! And no, I do not work in the financial industry.
As usual MDN tries to rationalize with Monday morning quarterbacking.
credit cruch equals selling equity positions to cover credit default swaps issued on debt. In this case its sovereign debt(greece). Sorta like making sure your liquid to cut a check for the mustang you just crashed. You didnt think they just put your insurance premiums in the bank did u? Its invested to garner a high return til its needed for payout. But in this case once the banks pay out insurance on bonds they need to raise more cash to meet reserve requirements which means more selling of equities. 2008 anyone?
Apple stock is definitely being manipulated by Wall Street. Since Apple does not follow the wisdom of Wall Street, it does not benefit Wall Street’s penchant for fat fees and high debt. Apple does not need to borrow; therefore it does not have to pay exorbitant fees and interest to the banks. Apple is not interested to take on big debt for expansion; therefore the investment banks were deprived of their fat fees for consultancy and services. Imagine if every corporation were as efficient as Apple, there is no need for Wall Street’s predatory services. Wall Street was responsible for every stock market crashes and bubbles that had ever hit the US in the last 50 years up to the present. Wall Street’s excesses has destroyed many a good companies.
Now Wall Street is trying to depress the stock price of Apple. By doing so, it hopes to accumulate Apple shares on the cheap and then carry out an hostile raid on Apple.
Apple’s management must make sure that they do not lose control of the number of shares in their possession in order to prevent such nefarious activity of Wall Street.