Retail stocks have been annihilated recently, despite the economy eking out growth. The fundamentals of the retail business look horrible: Sales are stagnating and profitability is getting worse with every passing quarter.
Every quarter, Apple manages to impress with its gargantuan cash hoard, which in Q2 rose to $262 billion (which however is $153 billion net of debt), a new all time high as shown in the chart below.
The following article by David Haggith is from The Great Recession Blog:
Having 'predictweeted' Dow 22k yesterday, Apple's 6% surge (after missing iphone sales estimates) has confirmed President Trump's forecast and crossed the Dow Maginot Line for the first time... as Trannies diverge drastically (testing the 200DMA).
We note that Dow Futures briefly spiked above 22,020 last night...
But as the cash market opens, The Dow is now above 22,000...
Nasdaq 100 futures jumped 0.8% after Apple surged to record highs following a strong beat and optimistic projections ahead of the launch of the company's new batch of iPhones. Eminis are little changed, up 0.1% to 2,475, trailing Asian markets, while European stocks and crude oil fall.