Shares of $AAPL Hit Record Close at $114, Market Cap $670 Billion

Shares of Apple Inc. hit a new record closing high Friday, ending the week at US$114.18, a gain of $1.36 (+1.21 percent), on strong volume of 44 million shares trading hands. That puts the company's market cap at $669.6 billion, which is also a record, at least in relative terms.

$AAPL Chart Year-to-Date 2014

$AAPL Chart Year-to-Date 2014
Source: Yahoo! Finance

Apple has been the world's most valuable corporation for years, and in 2012, the company's market cap first passed Microsoft's long-standing 1999 record of $613.3 billion. For Apple to pass that figure in relative terms (i.e. accounting for inflation), its market cap will need to top $876.26 billion.

$AAPL has been on a bit of a tear throughout 2014, rising more than 40 percent since the beginning of the year. The stock's closing high of $114.18 is one penny shy of its intra-day high of $114.19, set just before the closing bell.

In addition to the markets reacting positively to recent products like iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad Air 2, and iPad mini 3, Apple's stock has also benefitted from a more general rally. Investors goosed the markets after the GOP claimed victory in the U.S. midterm elections.

*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.