On Tuesday, March 8, Apple stock (AAPL) – Get Apple Inc. Report headed 1.2% lower. This was AAPL’s fourth consecutive day of losses, enough to put the stock well into correction territory and reach fresh 2022 lows.
Below, the Apple Maven discusses what pushed the stock price below $160 and what could be next for shares of the Cupertino company.
Figure 1: AAPL Premarket: Why Apple Sank On Tuesday And What’s Next
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(Read more from Apple Maven: Peek Performance: Live Blog For Apple Stock Investors)
Apple unveils new products
The day was important for Apple, as the tech giant unveiled a few new products during its “Peek Performance” event. As anticipated on our channel, the third generation iPhone SE saw the light of day and was one of the key announcements.
The new device, available on March 18, will be 5G capable — a first for Apple’s cheapest model. It will also be equipped with the A15 Bionic chip and feature improved cameras.
While the new iPad Air largely met expectations, the announcement of the M1 Ultra chip probably caught many by surprise. The device equipped with it, called Mac Studio, is one of the fastest personal computers in the market, and caters to a professional audience.
It is true that Apple stock began “Peek Performance” trading higher by an encouraging +1.7% and, less than an hour later, ended the event in the red. However, it was hard to justify the intraday selloff on the product launches.
What really tipped Apple stock
Instead, AAPL was probably a victim of market concerns over the Russia-Ukraine crisis — as were key stock indices, like the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100.
The big news of the day was the US ban on Russian oil. The move, while widely anticipated, is probably what caused crude oil prices to jump another 4% on Tuesday.
I have talked about how Russia is not a material market for Apple. It is estimated that less than 1% of the company’s total revenues come from this country.
However, the following factors probably turned investors sour about AAPL:
- Escalation of the conflict raises the possibility of a recession in Europe. The continent accounted for nearly one-fourth of Apple’s revenues in fiscal 2021.
- Compared to large-cap tech peers, AAPL has corrected just about the least. Investors may have chosen to trim a position with relative strength rather than sell the larger dip elsewhere.
What happens next?
None of what has pushed stocks lower in 2022, from inflation worries to rising interest rates to the geopolitical crisis, seem close to reaching an end. Therefore, as much as this may sound cliche, investors should expect volatility in Apple stock and the rest of the market.
The bad news is what this could mean in the short term. While AAPL has just made fresh YTD lows, the chance of the stock digging even deeper is not immaterial.
The good news is that, given enough time (say, a few years), buying Apple stock on the dip tends to produce the best returns. So, AAPL bulls might need to have at least one of the following: (1) tolerance for volatility and (2) patience to reap the benefits further down the road.
(Disclaimers: this is not investment advice. The author may be long one or more stocks mentioned in this report. Also, the article may contain affiliate links. These partnerships do not influence editorial content. Thanks for supporting The Apple Maven)
