Apple Drops 23 Cents While Markets Post Ho-Hum Rally

Inflation is not an issue in the US right now. Thatis according to Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, who made those comments to delegates at the International Monetary Conference in Singapore. That means that the Fed is free to lower interest rates further if it considers that a necessary means to a good economic end. Investors greeted this news with a not so enthusiastic "whatever." According to a report from CBS Marketwatch:

"Greenspanis comments about inflation were reassuring, but hardly surprising. [And] aside from a few companies here and there, the earnings picture remains cloudy. When you have no compelling reason to buy or sell, you end up with a day like Monday," observed John Forelli, senior vice president and portfolio manager at Independence Investment.

The major indexes ended the day higher, but on very light volume. Yahoo! says it was the lowest volume day for the Nasdaq all year, so there definitely was not a lot of umph! behind the gains. The Nasdaq traded some 1.3 billion shares, while the Dow saw only 840 million shares trading hands. Very light indeed. Still, the Dow ended the day back over the 11000 mark, and the Nasdaq edged over the 2150 level.

Dell has announced a new joint project with a company called Hart InterCivic, Inc. The two companies are working on developing a computerized voting system to replace all of the outdated punch card, bubble, tabulating vote-a-matic systems that were behind the Florida election debacle. A successful product could mean big money to both companies. With Dell branded boxes, election boards all across our great country would snap up their voting solutions like it was 1999. That might be a good thing for the company as Ken Popovich is saying that PC sales wonit rebound. Dell chugged 1.5% higher today.

Speaking Microsoft being a monopoly, the company announced today that it was about to release a test version of Windows XP later this week. Among the new features is an embedded version of MSN Messenger. Yes, thatis right, the messaging client is "built in" to the operating system. If we arenit mistaken, it was this kind of leveraging-monopoly-power-from-one-market-to-gain-monopoly-power-in-another-market thing that got them into trouble with the Justice Department and 19 different states to begin with. Better yet, the idea that it is "built in" to the OS is just as artificial as their claims that IE was embedded into the operating system (Windows 98) and that it couldnit be removed. We do so hope that the Appellate Court hearing their appeal is paying attention to this sort of thing. Microsoftis stock edged higher today in light volume.

Apple ended the day down again. Appleis one day chart looked like an encephalogram of heroin junkie after a three day binge of crack with speedball chasers. Seriously, check it out. The stock started off strong, but dipped into negative territory where it stayed save for brief flirtations with the north side of black in the early and late afternoon. No can do, said investors, and AAPL closed about 20 cents off the dayis lows. Volume was light for the stock, with the dayis range coming in at 20.46 - 21.11.

Apple closed at 20.66, a loss of 0.23 (-1.10%), on light volume of 5,031,000 shares trading hands.

The Nasdaq closed at 2155.93, up 6.49 (+0.30%), on volume of 1,318,229,000 shares trading hands.

The Dow closed at 11061.52, up 71.11 (+0.65%), on volume of 840,309,000 shares trading hands.

The S&P 500 closed at 1267.11, higher by 6.44 (+0.51%).

Adobe is sponsoring the Young Creatives Competition at the 2001 Cannes International Advertising Festival. ADBE closed at 40.33, down a quarter (-0.62%), on light volume of 2,471,900 shares trading hands.

Akamai closed at 10.15, down 20 cents (-1.93%), on light volume of 998,000 shares trading hands. Apple is a large shareholder of Akamai.

Earthlink closed at 13.77, down 0.46 (+3.46%), on light volume of 1,604,800 shares trading hands.

IBM closed at 113.64, up 0.75 (+0.66%), on very light volume of 3,809,700 shares trading hands.

Macromedia closed at 22.51, up 0.46 (+2.09%), on light volume of 923,000 shares trading hands.

Motorola and Flashline demoed a wireless roboticized Lego system today. Cool. MOT closed at 14.26, down 2 cents (-0.14%), on very light volume of 4,605,100 shares trading hands.

Dell closed at 25, up 0.39 (+1.58%), on very light volume of 19,684,200 shares trading hands.

Gateway closed at 16.68, down 0.38 (-2.23%), on light volume of 1,303,800 shares trading hands.

Intel closed at 28.50, down 0.24 (-0.84%), on light volume of 37,633,400 shares trading hands.

Microsoft closed at 70.78, up 0.44 (+0.63%), on light volume of 21,548,900 shares trading hands.

For full quotes on all the companies mentioned in this article, we have assembled this set of quotes at Yahoo! for your reference. For other stories regarding Appleis stock activity, visit our updated Apple Stock Watch Special Report. You can also check out our Apple Financial Boards, a new moderated forum for Apple Investors and people who are interested in Appleis financial dealings.