Apple's Stock Reaches Record High
Apple's stock price surged nearly 2% on Wednesday, reaching an all-time high. This rise can be attributed to the combination of slowing inflation and expectations of Federal Reserve rate cuts, which have fueled a rally in Big Tech stocks.
With this increase, Apple's stock is now up 52% year-to-date, resulting in a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion.
Big Tech Stocks Benefit from Cooling Inflation
Apple's stock price hit a fresh record on Wednesday, driven by cooling inflation and dovish signals from the Federal Reserve. The shares rose by 1.7% to close just below $198, surpassing the previous all-time high set in July. This surge in stock price has contributed to Apple's gains for the year, bringing the total market capitalization to $3.08 trillion, according to data from Refinitiv.
Other prominent tech stocks, including Microsoft, Google owner Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Facebook parent Meta Platforms, and Tesla, also experienced gains on Wednesday. The news of cooling inflation and the Fed's indication of potential interest rate cuts in 2024 uplifted these stocks.
Slowing Inflation Sets the Stage for Fed's Rate Cut
The Consumer Price Index released on Tuesday revealed that prices increased at a rate of 3.1% in November, marking the second consecutive month of declines. This data prompted Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to signal that the central bank is concluding its interest rate hikes.
During the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Wednesday, Powell stated, "The question of when will it become appropriate to begin dialing back the amount of policy restraint in place — that begins to come into view, and is clearly a topic of discussion out in the world and also a discussion for us at our meeting today."
As a result, the market is now anticipating a reduction in borrowing costs by approximately 175 basis points in 2024, according to the CME Group's Fedwatch tool. Lower interest rates often benefit stocks since investors are more likely to invest in them rather than keep their cash in savings accounts.
Record Highs for Dow Jones and S&P 500
Following Powell's comments, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high of over 3,700 points on Wednesday. Additionally, both the benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite experienced gains of over 1%.
This surge in stock prices demonstrates the positive impact of slowing inflation and the Federal Reserve's dovish stance on the performance of Big Tech stocks, particularly Apple.
Read the original article on Business Insider
—————————————————————————————————————————————
By: gglover@insider.com (George Glover)
Title: Apple Hits New All-Time High as Slowing Inflation Boosts Big Tech Stocks
Sourced From: markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/apple-stock-price-big-tech-federal-reserve-rate-cuts-inflation-2023-12
Published Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2023 10:22:04 +0000
Related posts:
Tesla’s valuation could rise by $50 billion or more after Elon Musk slashed EV prices and boosted EV deliveries to a record high.
Tesla short-sellers have lost $7Billion in 2023 due to Tesla’s stock rising 86%
Research firm: Tesla has become the top-favorite stock of retail investors in 2022 over Apple, says the research firm
Elon Musk criticized the Fed over 20 times, accusing it of raising interest rates to high levels. This is a list of all his criticisms against the central bank.
Leave a Reply