Apple Stock Lost Nearly 9 Percent This Week

On Wall Street on Friday, the Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices rose, thanks to stronger employment growth in the U.S. than expected, while the Nasdaq index weakened under the pressure of falling Apple stock prices.

The Dow Jones strengthened by 81 points, or 0.62 percent, to 13,155 points, and the S&P 500 index rose by 0.29 percent, to 1,418 points. The Nasdaq index, on the other hand, weakened by 0.38 percent, to 2,978 points.

The weakness of the Nasdaq is a result of a 2.6 percent drop in Apple’s stock price, which has a significant weight in that index. Throughout this week, the stock of this tech giant and the largest U.S. company by market capitalization has decreased by 8.9 percent.

The drop in Apple has also impacted the S&P 500 index, but to a lesser extent as that stock does not carry the same weight in the S&P as it does in the Nasdaq.

The rise of the Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices is attributed to data showing an increase in the number of employed in the U.S. by 146,000 and a decrease in the unemployment rate in November from 7.9 to 7.7 percent.

These data are significantly better than expected, but they did not spur a stronger rise in stock prices as a Reuters and University of Michigan report showed that consumer sentiment at the beginning of December fell to its lowest level since August, due to concerns regarding the ‘fiscal cliff’.

And in Washington this week, no progress was made in negotiations between Republicans and Democrats on reducing the budget deficit.

This was publicly acknowledged yesterday by John Boehner, the Republican leader in Congress, who called on President Barack Obama to come forward with a new proposal to avoid automatic cuts in budget expenditures and tax increases.

If Democrats and Republicans do not find solutions to reduce the budget deficit in the next three weeks, the so-called ‘fiscal cliff’ will automatically take effect at the beginning of next year, which could harm consumption and push the U.S. economy into recession.

Caution among investors is indicated by thin volume. On Wall Street, Nasdaq, and NYSE MKT, only about 5.5 billion shares changed hands yesterday, while the average daily volume this year is 6.5 billion.

After very uncertain trading, throughout this week, the Dow Jones strengthened by 1 percent, and the S&P 500 index by 0.1 percent. The Nasdaq index, on the other hand, weakened by 1.1 percent.

On European exchanges, trading was cautious yesterday. The London FTSE index rose by 0.22 percent, to 5,914 points, and the Paris CAC by 0.11 percent, to 3,605 points. The Frankfurt DAX, on the other hand, weakened by 0.22 percent, to 7,517 points.