Lines may be forming for Apple’s latest gadget, but investors couldn’t run away fast enough Wednesday. Following news of the latest security attack of Apple’s iCloud service over the weekend and news of a smartphone partnership between Samsung and Facebook, Apple’s shares were under major pressure.
Shares of Apple Wednesday fell $4.36, or 4.2%, to $98.94. That’s the biggest dollar decline by Apple since it lost $6.19, or 8%, to $71.17 on a split-adjusted basis on Jan. 28, 2014, according to data from Yahoo Finance. Since Apple is the most valuable U.S. company, with a market value of more than $618 billion, Wednesday’s decline cost investors $26.1 billion.
To put the day’s decline in perspective, the market value lost in Apple in one day exceeds the entire value of more than half the companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500. For instance, the entire company Marriott International is valued at $20.2 billion. Apple’s decline even pushed the entire broad Standard & Poor’s 500 into the red. The decline in Apple stock shaved 2.97 points off the S&P 500. Had Apple been unchanged, the S&P 500 would have been up 1.41 points. Instead, the S&P 500 fell 1.56 points to 2000.72.
Investors are worried about Apple’s continued slide behind rivals pushing in new technology. The latest iPhone is expected to add a larger screen and wireless payment technology, features that have long been offered by Samsung’s Galaxy andMicrosoft’s Lumia lines. Apple plans to meet with the press on Sept. 9 to announce the latest updated model of its smartphone. “Stocks can trade with increased volatility around events and there is a big event expected for next Tuesday,” says Walter Piecyk, analyst at BTIG.