Apple's Stock Steady Considering Lack of Product Announcements

Shares of Apple's stock held remarkably steady on Monday considering the lack of new hardware announcements or other new products during the company's annual World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) keynote. The stock lost some 0.69 percent in strong volume to close at US$628.65, down $4.35, on strong volume of 13.2 million shares trading hands.

Apple unveiled iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 Yosemite during the WWDC. Both new operating systems are packed full of new features, and while many of them lay the groundwork for future products—HomeKit and HealthKit, in particular—the keynote event was designed much more for developers than consumers or investors.

There was a lot of hype leading up to Monday's keynote, with some people expecting Apple to announce new products or update hardware. Apple seldom uses WWDC for such announcements, and the reality is that most of Apple's hardware was updated just 8 months ago, but some folks held out hope for the iWatch, an updated Apple TV, or some other new product.

Despite that anticipation, the stock held relatively steady considering the run-up leading up to the event, as shown in the chart below. That may indicate that investors understand the importance of HomeKit-an API for developers to tie into home automation devices in iOS—and HealthKit—an API that allows apps to contribute health data to a system-wide repository that allows customers to control that data and share it with doctors.

AAPL Chart

Chart for $AAPL on June 2nd, 2014

Other factors included in the stock's run-up during the last month include an increased dividend and a stock split that goes into affect today.

*In the interest of full disclosure, the author holds a tiny, almost insignificant share in AAPL stock that was not an influence in the creation of this article.