Market Bulletin – Gaining ground

It was a week of big numbers: 2,500 – the S&P 500’s record close on Friday; 3,700 – the flight distance (in kilometres) of the ballistic missile North Korea fired over Japan’s Hokkaido province into the ocean, also on Friday; and 1,512 – the diameter (in feet) of Apple’s new ring-shaped headquarters in California… longer than the Empire State Building is high.

The three were not unrelated. Premature relief came early in the week that North Korea had apparently not gone ahead with its plans to carry out another test, helping the world’s leading index to continue its upward trend. Apple’s launch of the iPhone 8 failed to move markets, because the company was also obliged to announce a delay to the revolutionary iPhone X (and there was even a technical failure at the launch event). A number of the company’s leading suppliers suffered sell-offs, among them the UK’s own Dialog Semiconductor.

Yet despite a mediocre week on the market, Apple’s performance this year has been exhilarating – the world’s largest listed company has risen almost 40%, to the point where it accounts for close to 4% of the S&P 500. (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Alphabet (Google’s parent) – the FAANGs – now make up more than 12% of the index.) The FAANGs also account for a vastly outsized share of the index’s 2017 growth. Apple investors remain hopeful it won’t be long before the technology giant becomes the first trillion-dollar listed company. More>>>

This article is kindly provided by Skeltons Wealth Management.

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