This Story Posted:
May 4th, 1999

[3:59 PM]
Apple Stock Watch: Apple Retreats, Erasing Most Of Yesterday's Gains

Apple shares fell 3 1/16 to close at 46 1/2 today, falling some 6.18%. Today's decline practically offers a mirror image of yesterday's gains as Apple rose 3 9/16 to close at 49 9/16, a six-year high. The most probable cause of the fall is profit taking, although Apple's stock was not alone in the hardware department as IBM, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, and Gateway also fell. A general market retreat figured heavily. The Dow Jones closed at over 11,000 for the first time in history yesterday after a rise of over 225 points. Today the Dow Jones fell by 97.08 points to close at 10,917.61. The Nasdaq, Apple's home, fell 16.29 to close at 2,519.29. This is indicative of the broader market move to capitalize on yesterday's gains of which Apple was certainly a part. Apple's shares continued to trade at heavy levels with some 7,241,800 changing hands. Average volume for Apple is 4,350,545. Just two weeks ago when Apple began its spectacular rise, average volume for the stock was just over 3,300,000. During that time the average volume has peaked at over 17,000,000 and consistently been at 7,000,000 or above, raising the average by over 30%. Interest in Apple is certainly not abating based on those numbers. The Mac Observer Spin: We mentioned yesterday that profit taking could very well claim much of Apple's gains. They are still poised to continue the rise tomorrow. We feel that Apple will likely close above 50 sometime this week. Remember that the WDC is coming up. People are anxiously awaiting the expected announcements that Steve Jobs, Apple's iCEO, will make. MacOS 8.6 and new PowerBooks being chief among those expected announcements. That anticipation will have a positive impact on Apple's stock price at least until Mr. Jobs's actually makes the presentation where he is expected to make the announcements. Apple