Apple Gains In The Face Of Nasdaq Loss

The markets opened up lower today, but then staged a rally in the 10:00 hour as rumors of a Fed meeting took hold. The rally and the rumors were short lived, and tech stocks took off in a southern direction. Concerns about the economy and ongoing earnings warnings continue to wreak havoc with investor sentiment. According to a CBS Marketwatch report:

"Most tech stocks are very dangerous right now. Companies are scrambling to meet earnings projections in the last days of the quarter. What is hurting tech even more is the inability to offer guidance. Many of these companies have no idea what to expect in the months to come. That leaves very little opportunity for techs to have any sustainable rallies," commented Louis Navellier of the Navellier Performance Funds.

Both indexes traded in moderate volumes. The Dow staged a rally in the last few minutes of trading and closed slightly higher. The Nasdaq ended the day with a 30 point loss. Tech stocks ended the day mixed.

The Wall Street Journal called Apple a "safe" investment today (we provided a brief analysis of the article). That article cites Appleis strong cash position, loyal customer base, and the fact that Apple stands alone as a company that has not warned for the current quarter. Apple will be announcing the current quarteris results on April 18th. Expect interest in the stock to pick up as we get closer to that date. Appleis stock is up 49% so far this year, despite a steep decline in the Nasdaq. Apple traded as high as 23.45, up 1.28, but ended up giving some of those gains back. The stock closed up 36 cents on the day. Volume for the stock continues to be strong with more than 10 million shares trading hands. AAPL has been trading in high volume all week.

Apple closed at 22.53, up 0.36 (+1.62%), on strong volume of 10,952,100 shares trading hands.

The Nasdaq closed at 1820.57, down 33.56 (-1.81%), on volume of 2,100,966,000 shares trading hands.

The Dow closed at 9799.06, up 13.71 (+0.14%), on volume of 1,074,924,000 shares trading hands.

The S&P 500 closed 1147.95, off 5.34 (-0.46%).

Akamai closed up at 8 1/4, a gain of 1/32 (+0.38%), on light volume of 2,191,700 shares trading hands. Apple is a large shareholder of Akamai.

Adobe closed at 32.57, down 1.40 (-4.12%), on light volume of 4,406,200 shares trading hands.

IBM closed higher at 95.04, a gain of 0.63 (+0.67%), on moderately strong volume of 10,553,700 shares trading hands.

Motorola closed lower at 14.52, down 0.46 (-3.07%), on light volume of 8,634,500 shares trading hands.

Earthlink regained some of yesterdayis loss to close at 11 11/16, up 13/16 (+7.47%), on light volume of 1,576,100 shares trading hands.

Gateway announced that they will be closing 27 of their retail stores. GTW closed at 16.80, up 0.27 (+1.63%), on volume of 2,651,200 shares trading hands.

Dell closed at 26 15/16, up a half point (+1.89%), on strong volume of 40,512,700 shares trading hands.

Intel closed at 26 9/16, down 3/8 (-1.39%), on strong volume of 64,860,100 shares trading hands.

Microsoft closed at 55 3/8, a loss of 3/16 (-0.34%), on volume of 43,493,700 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.