[4:40 PM] Apple Stock Watch: Strange Days on Wall Street, Another New High for Apple.
by Wes George
The Dow can't seem to advance as the technology laden Nasdaq powers ahead, encouraged by a strong productivity report that suggests the benefits of the new networked economy are kicking in.
Apple traded lower till the last hour then made a rapid come back to end the day up 1 13/16 or 1.56% at 117 13/16 on slightly below average volume.
International Data Corp., an econometric research company, announced today that they have lowered their forecasts for worldwide PC sales growth next year to 17% from 20%. "But a strong, year-on-year global Q4 consumer PC growth rate of 25.7 percent will keep global PC demand high," said IDC's research director, John Brown.
The Dow sagged 118 points (1.05%) to close at 11106, on a volume of 986 million shares traded.
The unstoppable Nasdaq gained 40 points (1.15%) to close at 3586 on 1.5 billion shares traded. Today was another new closing high for the Nasdaq. Yawn. This is the 49th record high this year, giving the Nasdaq a 63% year-to-date gain.
The S&P 500 lost 14.43 points (1.01%) to close at 1408.90.
Yahoo was added to the S&P 500 today, forcing S&P 500 stock index funds to add Yahoo (YHOO) to their portfolios. This drove Yahoo's price up by 67 3/16 or 23% and creating softness in the other 499 stocks in the index. Yahoo ended the session at 348 on a volume of 57 millions shares traded or 8 times average volume.
The bellwether 30-year Treasury bond rose 14/32 to close at 98 25/32, the yield dropped to 6.20% from 6.24% on Monday.
The US Labor Department revised its 3rd quarter productivity numbers up to an annual rate of 4.9% from an earlier estimate of 4.2%. Morgan Stanley Chief Economist Richard Berner said, "This data continues to underscore that, so far, the US economy is performing in a way where strong growth and low inflation can coexist."
In Apple related businesses, Akamai rose 9 1/4 to close at 226, as J .P. Morgan initiated coverage on Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) this morning.
Adobe lost 2 1/2 to end at 60 5/8. Macromedia gave back 3 7/16 after soaring to a new high yesterday. Symantec was up 2 5/16 to close at 54 3/8.
Apple's Power PC partners, IBM and Motorola, were both up slightly.
Apple's competitors were mostly down, Gateway, Intel, and Microsoft all got hammered hard today. Hewlett Packard beat the second day of the Wintel down draft to close up 4 3/4 at 109 1/2.
Dell moved slightly higher on an upgraded by CIBC Oppenheimer to buy from hold. Dell also announced that it will start shipping Linux installed on some of their high-end servers, and that Red Hat Inc. (RHAT) will provide customer support. Redhat climbed 52 dollars to close at 284 1/8 for a one day gain of 22%.
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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