Apple’s $2 Trillion Day: The Information’s Tech Briefing

For a few hours today, Apple’s market capitalization was above $2 trillion, symbolizing just how powerful the iPhone maker has become. (The stock ended up losing ground, shrinking the market cap a tad below $2 trillion by the close). By comparison, Amazon and Microsoft are both worth around $1.6 trillion. 

Apple’s valuation, lifted by a 54% appreciation in its stock since the start of the year, is also a reminder of how much tech stocks are driving the broader market’s rally. That latter point was brought home on Wednesday in Credit Suisse data, cited by the New York Times, showing that the stocks of Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Facebook rose 37% in the first seven months, while all the other stocks in the S&P 500 fell 6%. The S&P 500 has now recovered all the ground lost during the pandemic sell-off, but as this data indicates, the gains aren’t widespread across stocks.