Cisco traded a staggering 281,441,312 shares today (reported as of press time), making it the 2nd most heavily traded stock (in one day) in history. Intel holds the number one record with some 301 million shares trading hands (according to CNBC). Many consider Cisco a bell-weather for the health of Corporate America because most of their sales comes from this sector. If Ciscois sales are declining, then that means that Corporate America must have less money to spend. Cisco dropped more than 13% in todayis trading to close at 31 1/16, down 4 11/16 (-13.11%).
The effect on todayis overall trading was dubbed The Cisco Effect and most technology stocks closed in negative territory. Bargain hunters helped pick many stocks off their lows in late afternoon trading. Of the stocks we track in the Apple Stock Watch, only IBM and Microsoft traded higher. Microsoftis stock benefitted from speculation that the appeals court hearing their antitrust appeal may replace Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson as the overseeing judge, and that may likely result in a mistrial. No one on the planet thinks that George "I prefer innovation to litigation" W. Bushis DoJ, headed by John Ashcroft, will put much effort into retrying the case. If this turns out to be the case, it will mean business as usual for Microsoft, and that has so far been good for MSFT investors. Hence, Microsoft ended the day higher in the midst of a big tech downturn.
Appleis stock dipped below the US$20 mark during the late morning and early afternoon, but rallied late in the day to remain above the US$20 mark. The stock traded in the 19 13/16 - 20 7/8 range throughout the day. Yesterday, Charles Lemonides had some good things to say about Apple during an appearance on CNBC. We have a full report on his comments. There was also an interesting interview at Upside Today with Peter Hoddie, former Senior Architect for QuickTime at Apple.
Apple closed at 20 3/4, down 3/8 (-1.78%) on volume of 6,993,800 shares trading hands.
The Nasdaq closed at 2607.82, down 56.67 (-2.13%).
The Dow closed at 10946.72, off by 10.70 (-0.10%).
The S&P 500 made it a family affair in the red by closing at 1340.76, down 11.50 (-0.85%).
Akamai received some positive press at C-Net today in an article about the distributed server market. The stock still closed lower at 25 1/4, down 9/16 (-2.18%) on volume of 2,353,700 shares trading hands. Apple is a major shareholder of Akamai.
Adobe closed at 40 5/16, steep loss of 3 11/16 (-8.38%) on strong volume of 8,461,500 shares trading hands.
IBM was one of the only two stocks we track to close higher in todayis trading. IBM closed at 116.91, a gain of 2.85 (+2.50%) on volume of 8,952,200 shares trading hands.
Motorola continued its downward trek to close at 19.95, off by 0.90 (-4.32%) on volume of 13,839,900 shares trading hands.
Earthlink basically held still as the stock closed at 9 1/8, down by 1/16 (-0.68%) on light volume of 692,200 shares trading hands.
Gateway closed at 20.43, down by 0.32 (-1.54%) on light volume of 2,169,100 shares trading hands.
Dell lost ground as well as the companyis stock closed at 26 1/2, a loss of 3/8 (-1.40%) on volume of 33,241,800 shares trading hands.
Hewlett Packard closed at 36.00, a loss of 0.80 (-2.17%) on volume of 4,860,800 shares trading hands.
Intel closed at 34 15/16, down 1/2 (-1.41%) on strong volume of 53,055,900 shares trading hands.
Microsoft was one of only two stocks we track to close in positive territory today. See above for Microsoft specific news. MSFT closed at 64 11/16, up 2 1/8 (+3.40%) on heavy volume of 63,014,500 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.