It was probably Samsung, Microsoft or Google. They had probably bought those 800,000 share a few years back so they still made a profit while driving Apple's share price down.
Total speculation I know but probable no?
that's some nice economics lesson there...
Yeah, supply and demand. Thanks to all those "shortings", I have enough to buy a few more shares hehe.
As someone pointed out, it's all stock manipulation. Why would everyone panic when Apple just had a record quarter???
More evidence things in Vegas (I mean Wall Street) run off rumor more than financials.
As long as this is what we call 'investing' things aren't going to turn around. I think we need to implement some controls on the system to turn it back to investment... like time based criteria to be eligible for the full value when selling. For example, you buy stock in a company and it's only worth 50% if you were to sell it again immediately. This then progresses to 100% over say 6 months or a year. That would get rid of day-trading and cause people to actually consider the COMPANY and their PERFORMANCE rather than trying to figure out what the HERD OF IRRATIONAL 'INVESTORS' might be up to.
Mostly because I'm getting bored with everything Apple. iOS still looks identical as it did when it first launched. No personalization whatsoever. Mac hardware is still moving forward and is awesome, but the OS is still annoying for businesses. The biggest issue is why does it take 4-5 seconds to connect to a server and show it's contents. Windows is instant with SMB. Apple is even slow with AFP.
Apple is just Wall Street's latest cash cow. Here is how it works: [...]
Getting bored, in that way, is more an emotional reaction, as was noted the record quarter (AGAIN, and AGAIN!). We've just become used to companies constantly hitting the market with new stuff and designs. However, IMO, that's part of the problem... and I hope Apple doesn't fall into it.
Especially where UI is concerned, if it ain't broke, don't 'fix' it! There are many areas where iOS needs fixing, but it isn't in slapping on some new 'look' every so often. I suppose there is some segment of the market that has nothing better to do than customize the UI, but it isn't necessarily a good thing for productivity or really getting things done.
Lately, though, Apple has seemed to fall for making silly UI moves, especially on OSX. I'm a bit worried about Apple long-term, however it isn't really for any of the reasons the 'experts' are worried about or why the stock price has been falling.
re: OSX and networking - Yes, I'd agree that networking, aside from ease of use, has been a long-term sore spot for OSX. And, some of Apple's moves recently in Lion and Mt. Lion have been horribly bad for business... even sectors that were traditional Apple strong-holds. (ex: the whole 'save as' mess) THAT is the kind of thing, along with Apple's neglecting of the Pro market that is getting me worried (among other things).
I definitely agree with you a 100%. I'm just wondering if Apple wows the world every release but soon will run out of things to wow us. They really have us becoming numb to the new standards. In a sense it's a good thing they try to space out releases a little. But at the same time, you are right. iPhone 5 came out, not much different but I jumped on it right away because it's lighter. That's all they had to do to win me over.
I really wish they would fix the networking issues, but to be honest, I deploy a lot of macs for our creative staff and they are kind of used to the annoying network issues. I haven't really had any complaints except the ones that come from windows.
What Apple needs to do is arrange for some horse's heads to appear in the beds of some Wall Street executives.
More evidence things in Vegas (I mean Wall Street) run off rumor more than financials.
Think about it.... why would the sale of a bunch of shares of stock affect the price? Because gamblers (I mean 'investors') are watching that kind of stuff rather than things which really matter, like how Apple is actually doing, their products, decisions, etc. Apple's REAL value didn't change before and after.
As long as this is what we call 'investing' things aren't going to turn around. I think we need to implement some controls on the system to turn it back to investment... like time based criteria to be eligible for the full value when selling. For example, you buy stock in a company and it's only worth 50% if you were to sell it again immediately. This then progresses to 100% over say 6 months or a year. That would get rid of day-trading and cause people to actually consider the COMPANY and their PERFORMANCE rather than trying to figure out what the HERD OF IRRATIONAL 'INVESTORS' might be up to.
Haha, wow.
That sort of regulation is not the role of government in the least. If I want to buy something today and sell it today, I should have the freedom to do that. There is nothing immoral about that. I am not imposing myself on anyone else's rights.
Your suggestion sounds great, until you "invest" in a high-risk high-reward startup. Suppose you find out a month later you had better sell: but nope, thanks to your regulations, you have two choices 1. Sell at 50% or 2. Watch your investment ride its way to the bottom for 6 months. Thanks to you, less people put their money on the line.
Anytime you impose arbitrary legislation that widely overreaches the role of government, there are going to be more unexpected consequences than anticipated benefits.
If you feel Wall Street is too risky, you can always choose to invest elsewhere. That's the beauty of a free market.
You'll be waiting longer than you thought as AAPL is back above $450 at the moment.
Apple is just Wall Street's latest cash cow. Here is how it works:
Big institutional investors get together in back rooms and choose companies they know are really solid and have profit in their future. They set irrationally high quarterly numbers or claim a company "did not exceed expectations by enough". They start a plunge by selling short a large block of shares to create panic. Then other companies and individuals panic (predictably) and dump their shares thinking the sky is falling. The share price plunges.
When the damage has been done and a share price has been devalued 20-30%, the big investors start buying back those shares. Momentum builds and drives the price back where it was and they make billions as the price rises, more than offsetting the short sell they used to start this march of the lemmings.
I watched Wall St do this to GE at 8 month intervals in the late 80's, working a 10 point drop then rise. GE killed this with repurchase programs but the same thing has happened to HP and Microsoft and other companies. It is extremely predictable once it starts but only the fat cats make the real money, basically by defrauding smaller investors by making them panic.
In shouldn't be too long now, I actually meant in the next 6 months. This stock isn't going to make up any appreciable ground (will lose ground in fact) until the next iPhone/iPad release. It even took a dive on record earnings, can't imagine what's it going to do during this quarter (actually, I can).
There's lots of signs (and there are as always) that the stock was as usual manipulated and certain trades were executed on purpose to tank the stock (Flash at end of last friday in the last second).
Some people need to do some research on High Frequency Trading. This isn't some investor, this is a huge faceless corporation purposefully trying to tank Apple's stock. Just wait. I've got a $1 that says Google is behind this.
Those small fluctuations may be due to manipulations, but the dive from $700 to where we are today is not. The stock is more appropriately priced now because Apple is no longer in an exponential growth period, which is fine for the company, but not for investors. What we see today will be the new norm unless Apple finds a new cash cow. The iPhone and iPad profits will keep it priced 400-500, but they'll need a new product line to push it higher. Based on the lack of leaked parts (which is also Apple's new norm), this product isn't coming any time soon.