According to the Wall Street Journal, "Unusually low unemployment and higher energy prices both could spark inflation, the Fed said Wednesday. It added that softer spending by businesses and consumers, as well as declines in the stock market suggest that the economy could expand without causing inflation."
Appleis stock dipped 3/8, or -1.85%, to close at 19 7/8 on volume of 4.99 million shares.
Maccentral.com reported, "Appleis newest board member, Arthur Levinson, purchased 80,600 common shares of the companyis stock in October...Levinson bought the shares October 23 to October 25 for $18.82 to $20.38 a share."
Meanwhile, Apple opened a new subsidiary office based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. "After opening no new offices in the region for the past five years," said a ZD Net News article. "Apple announced the arrival of a new Argentine subsidiary "that will be responsible for the implementation of sales and marketing programs, user service and post-sales support," according to a news release from the company."
And finally C/NET News is taking Apple to task: "...power switches on some PowerMac G4 systems are mysteriously burning out, making it impossible to turn the systems on or off. And in some rare instances, the PowerMacs mysteriously turn on or off without touching the switches." Rare indeed, one Mac maintenance person at the University of Texas told the Mac Observer that she hasnit seen this problem occur in the more than 100 G4 she regularly maintains.
The Nasdaq gained 27 points (0.87%) to close at 3165 on volume of 1.7 billion shares.
The Dow 26 points (0.25%) to close at 10707 on volume of 1.06 billion shares.
The S&P 500 climbed 6.86 points (0.50%) to close at 1389.81.
In Apple related businesses: Akamai shed 1 3/4 to 47 1/16. Adobe lost 7/16 to 81 3/16.
Earthlink climbed 25/32 to 7 29/32, after the ISP said it has a deal with Hughes Network Systems that will allow Earthlink to offer two-way high-speed satellite Internet services, expanding its high-speed data coverage.
Dell lost 5/8 to 25 3/16. Compaq slipped 0.19 to 26.91. Shares of Microsoft gained 1 1/4 to 70 1/16.
Intel climbed 9/16 to 41 1/2. Hewlett Packard continued to fall by 1 11/16 to 35 5/16. Gateway was higher by 0.70 to 41.65.
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.