Apple’s stock price fell as much as 10% yesterday after the company lowered its earnings forecast earlier this week due to sluggish international sales.
Since becoming the first American company to hit $1T in market value just months ago, Apple has lost 39% of its market cap — and now the Big Fruit’s historic losses are souring the whole economy.
How the mighty have rotten
In just 3 months, Apple has lost $452B in market value — making Apple’s losses bigger than the entire market caps of all current US companies other than Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Berkshire Hathaway.
After a promising debut of the iPhone X and strong growth of its services divisions, Apple’s stock rose sky-high in September and October.
But international iPhone sales under-delivered, resulting in quarterly revenue that fell short of Apple’s predictions by more than $5B.
A rare bruise
Before this week, Apple hadn’t lowered its quarterly forecast in 15 years. But, Apple’s newfound pessimism is leaving investors in every sector of the economy with sour tastes in their mouths: Yesterday, the Dow dipped 2.8%, the Nasdaq fell 3%, and the S&P 500 slipped 2.5%.
Going forward, Apple has a lot to worry about: In China, a market that accounts for 20% of Apple’s sales, demand is unexpectedly small and is expected to decrease even further thanks to trade tensions.
