[4:30 PM] Apple Stock Watch: MS Rises On Appeal News, Apple Sheds 4.3%
by Wes George
Today's friendly economic data should have sent the stock market into rally mode but investors continue to sit tight on the sideline. While shares of Microsoft reacted well to the news that the appellate courts would hear their appeal, the rest of the tech industry took a downward cue. Apple leapt at the opportunity to close lower.
Consumer prices rose a tepid 0.1% as lower gasoline and clothing prices offset the largest increase in food prices in over two years. This is what Wall Street had hoped for, one more sign of a slowing economy with tame inflation.
According to the Wall Street Journal, "The low monthly inflation readings could give the Federal Reserve some breathing room to leave interest rates unchanged when it meets June 27 and 28. Economists increasingly believe the central bank will hold back this month and reassess the situation in August."
Tomorrow, look for the industrial production and capacity utilization data, which should indicate some slowing from April. On Friday new housing starts are forecast to indicate a slowdown in the building sector.
Apple sagged 4 1/16, or 4.3%, to close at 90 7/16 on volume of 2,476,500 shares.
The Nasdaq fell 53.65 points (-1.39%) to closed at 3797.41 on light volume.
The Dow climbed 66.11 points (0.62%) to close at 10687.95 on very light volume. The blue chips and financial stocks rally after the inflation report this morning.
The S&P 500 rose 1.14 points (0.08%) to close at 1470.58.
The Mac Observer Stock Watch Virtual Portfolio was down today with the general market weakness
In Apple related businesses: Akamai fell 4 1/16 to close at 93 15/16. ARM Holdings gained 5/16 to close at 31 5/8. Adobe followed Apple and closed down 5 5/16 to close at 121 7/8. Earthlink was unchanged to close at 16 13/16. Motorola dumped 2 1/4 to close at 32 7/8. IBM shed 3 5/16 to close at 116.
Apple's competitors: Hewlett Packard dropped 1/2 to close at 36 1/16. Gateway followed suit and dropped 2 13/16 to close at 51 1/4. Compaq fell 7/16 to close at 25 11/16. Shares of Microsoft rose on the news that the appellate courts would hear their appeal. Microsoft closed at 70 1/2, up 2 5/8. Intel didn't share in the good news though and closed lower at 126 7/16, down 5 1/16.
For full quotes on all the companies mentioned in this article, we have assembled this set of quotes at Yahoo! for your reference. We also have many of these same quotes reported live (20 minute delay) on our home page. For other stories regarding Apple's stock activity, visit our Apple Stock Watch Special Report.
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