AAPL Holds Gains Ahead of Earnings Report

Apple closed on Tuesday at $25.74, itis highest daily close since early May. On Tuesday almost eleven million AAPL shares changed hands. The jump in price and the increased activity in the stock were in anticipation of todayis 2nd fiscal quarter earnings announcement from Cupertino. We will be following the announcements in a special edition of the Apple Stock Watch and in the Apple Finance Board forum.

In early trading on Wednesday AAPL was holding its Tuesday gains ahead of todayis announcements. At 3:00 p.m. in New York Apple was trading at $25.95, up $.21.

Following yesterdayis 200 point gain in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), the index on Wednesday morning was buoyed by remarks from the Federal Reserve Board Chairman that although the economy has begun to brighten, the Fed is not in a rush to begin raising interest rates. However, later in the day the Dow moved markedly into negative territory, giving up much of yesterdayis gains. In late afternoon trading the DJIA was at 10,202.24, down 99.08. The Nasaq Composite Index was at 1,809.16, down 7.63 an hour before todayis close.

In other activity on Wall Street:

Adobe Systems (ADBE) was at $39.41, down $.71 in afternoon trading.

Dell Computer (DELL) was up $.16 at $27.37.

Gateway (GTW) was trading at $6.18, down $.08.

IBM (IBM) continues to struggle near last weekis 52-week low. At 3:00 p.m. Big Blue was at $84.83.

Please visit our AAPL daily updates and join the discussion in the Apple Finance Board forum.