The Apple stock price, caught up in the general stock market crash, added to its four-month decline today (Monday) with a drop that pushed its valuation loss to more than $170 billion.
Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) stock hit a 52-week high of $134.54 on April 28. Before today's stock market crash, AAPL stock was down $28.78 from that high, more than 21%.
After sinking as low as $92 at the market open - a further 10% drop - the Apple stock price started to rebound.
The steep early drop in Apple stock was one reason why the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell briefly by more than 1,000 points in early trading. AAPL replaced AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) in the Dow Jones on March 18.
The AAPL stock price spent much of the morning hovering around $104 a share, more than $30 below its 52-week high. That represents a breathtaking market capitalization loss of more than $171 billion.
Viewed another way, Apple in four months has shed the market cap equivalent of a Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) or a Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC). Both of those companies, by the way, are among the top 30 companies as ranked by market cap.
Meanwhile, Apple's decline has weighed down the Dow Jones index. That 30-point drop in AAPL stock translates to a 200-point drop in the Dow.
While many celebrated the addition of Apple to the Dow Jones, the stock has a long history of volatility. So while AAPL will help push the Dow higher in boom times, it will help drag it lower during downturns.
In the long run, the Apple stock price will recover - eventually reaching $200. But in the short term, we could still see some rough seas ahead.
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About the Author
David Zeiler, Associate Editor for Money Morning at Money Map Press, has been a journalist for more than 35 years, including 18 spent at The Baltimore Sun. He has worked as a writer, editor, and page designer at different times in his career. He's interviewed a number of well-known personalities - ranging from punk rock icon Joey Ramone to Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak.
Over the course of his journalistic career, Dave has covered many diverse subjects. Since arriving at Money Morning in 2011, he has focused primarily on technology. He's an expert on both Apple and cryptocurrencies. He started writing about Apple for The Sun in the mid-1990s, and had an Apple blog on The Sun's web site from 2007-2009. Dave's been writing about Bitcoin since 2011 - long before most people had even heard of it. He even mined it for a short time.
Dave has a BA in English and Mass Communications from Loyola University Maryland.