News that the Cupertino, Calif.-based company slashed prices on some of its computer systems last week led some observers to believe Apple is cleaning off its shelves to make room for newer models. See full story.
"One way to look at it is that whatever they deeply discounted ... theyire probably trying to get rid of inventory," commented Bear Stearns analyst Andy Neff.
Always one for surprises, though, Jobs often leaves ample room for guessing. Others believe heill reveal a new version of Appleis PowerBook notebook for professionals.
Steve Jobs will be delivering a keynote address on Tuesday, January 9th, at 9:00 AM PST. He is largely expected to announce several new products at the event, including new PowerBooks and new PowerMacs.
Apple moved moderately forward on slower than average volume, something that bucks the trend of normal pre-MACWORLD hype. The stock closed at 16 9/16, up 3/16 (+1.15%) on volume of 6,669,100 shares trading hands.
The Nasdaq didnit budge much, but closed lower at 2395.92, down by 11.73 (-0.49%).
The Dow also headed slightly lower and closed at 10621.35, down 40.66 (-0.38%).
The S&P 500 joined the crowd and closed lower at 1295.86, a loss of 2.49 (-0.19%).
Akamai has continued its PR barrage to bring positive attention to the company. Apple is a major Akamai shareholder, and the content delivery infrastructure company provides bandwidth and server space for QuickTime TV. The stock closed at 18 5/8, lower by 13/16 (-4.18%) on lighter than normal volume of 2,117,200 shares trading hands.
Adobe moved lower, on higher than normal volume as the company announced several new products. The stock closed at 49 9/16, down 1 15/16 (-3.76%) on volume of 4,247,300 shares trading hands.
IBM closed at 93 9/16, a loss of 7/16 (-0.47%) on volume of 6,064,700 shares trading hands.
Motorola received a royal touch today as one of its UK execs was knighted. Seriously. The stock closed at 21 3/4, one of the few gainers with a gain of 9/16 (+2.65%) on volume of 9,170,000 shares trading hands.
Earthlink continues to weather the storm hammering Internet stocks and closed at 6 3/32, a loss of 5/32 (-2.50%) on light volume of 583,100 shares trading hands.
Gatewayis stock also suffered as the doom and besetting Apple continues to be spread to its PC brethren. The stock joined those in the negative column, closing at 18.91, lower by 0.55 (-2.83%) on volume of 1,579,300 shares trading hands.
Dell eked out a small gain to close at 19 1/8, a gain of 1/8 (+0.66%) on volume of 29,727,100 shares trading hands.
Hewlett Packard closed at 31 3/8, another gain of 3/4 (+2.45%) on volume of 6,526,400 shares trading hands.
Intel is still a chip company and the markets are not too comfortable with chip companies. As a result, Intel too closed lower at 31 15/16, a small loss of 1/8 (-0.39%) on volume of 45,055,900 shares trading hands.
Microsoft also took a small loss as reports of earnings concerns for the Windows innovator as a result of the entire PC sector slowdown circulated. The stock closed at 48 15/16, lower by 3/16 (-0.38%) on light volume of 39,885,300 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.