APPLE SINKS, DOW LOSES 97: Here's What You Need To Know
First, the scoreboard:
- Dow: 17,013.8, -97.5, (-0.5%)
- S&P 500: 1,988.4, -13.0, (-0.6%)
- Nasdaq: 4,552.2, -40.0, (-0.8%)
And now, the top stories on Monday:
1. Apple was up as much as 4% Tuesday, hitting a high of $103.08 as management unveiled a slew of new products. The real show-stopper today was the "Apple Watch," which will start at $349 and be available in early 2015. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will start at $199 and $299, respectively. There was also the introduction of "Apple Pay," which could change the way we buy everything.
2. But the excitement in the market was short-lived with Apple stock falling to as low as $96.14, a 3%. Shares closed at $97.99, down 0.4%.
3. Apple's competitors got slammed today. Watch-maker Fossil fell 2.1% and payments processor eBay tumbled 2.8%.
4. "I would sell Apple," said DoubleLine Funds' Jeffrey Gundlach ahead of Apple's event. Gundlach's big concern is that Apple lost its innovative spark after Steve Jobs passed away.
5. According to the July Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), U.S. companies had 4.67 million job openings in July, which was basically in line with the 4.70 million expected by economists. "Employers, it seems, either can't find people with the right skills in the right place, or they don't want to hire people who have been out of work for a long period," said Pantheon Macroeconomics' Ian Shepherdson. Indeed, jobs data can be quite ambiguous.
6. Small business optimism improved in August, reported the NFIB. Survey responses related to business spending were particularly encouraging. "Fifty-eight percent reported outlays, up 3 points from July, and the second best reading since January 2008," the NFIB said. "The percent of owners planning capital outlays in the next 3 to 6 months rose 4 points to 27 percent, the best reading since the peak of the last expansion."
DON'T MISS: RANKED: The 50 US State Economies From Worst To Best »