Share in Apple Inc. traded higher Monday, closing up 1.39%. This follows last week's drubbing of the stock, when the markets pared more than 8% off the stock's value. AAPL closed at US$194.73, a gain of $2.667 (+1.39%), on volume of 26.5 million shares trading hands.
Apple's share gains came amidst a broader tech rally led by chip companies. Marketwatch reported that chip stocks were boosted by an increase in chip sales in December. The sales of microprocessors are often watched as a leading indicator due the large number of devices that use them - if more chips are being purchased, demand for end-products is seen to be increasing.
"Our positive thesis on semis remains intact, and we continue to see a healthy cyclical recovery, confirmed by a stronger-than-normal increase in December revenues driven by strong units and better pricing," Wedbush analyst Patrick Wang said in a note.
Shares in Microsoft rose to $28.41, a gain of 0.23 (+0.82%); IBM closed at $124.67, up $2.28 (+1.86%); Cisco rose to $22.73, higher by $0.26 (+1.16%); and, Intel closed at
On the other hand, shares in Amazon dropped more than 6%, as the markets reacted negatively to friction between the retailer and large publishing house MacMillan, which forced Amazon into selling raising prices for eBooks intended for the Kindle platform. AMZN closed at $19.61, a gain of $0.21 (+1.08%).
*In the interest of full disclosure, the author holds a small share in AAPL stock that was not an influence in the creation of this article.