Re: CIBC Oppenheimer downgrades issue from "hold" to "underperform."
I was watching CNBC when Rene SanMgill was reporting on the NASDAQ and noted the downgrade in his monologue. At the same time I was watching the cascading ticker on Quote.com's LiveCharts. The stock dipped 1/8.
I don't think the rest of the market agrees with the prognosis. There are some deep pockets being creamed by AAPL's sudden turn about. One analyst was being interviewed about the practice of using options for insurance, and he used AAPL as an example of a company that might be back in the low 30s since CIBC Oppenheimer had just downgraded, and suggested options as a hedge. I got the distinct impression that he was trying to sell a load of something.
In today's action there was certainly a lot of profit taking. However, the action was rather strange. For most of the time, the bid volume seemed to outnumber the ask volume, yet the bid would still fall. To me this seemed to indicate that only a few buyers were making up most of that volume with an earnest desire to see the price move down even as they bought. (short covering) If a slog of bids came out in support of a price, the ask suddenly swelled from 1,000 to 10,000 shares. Like a big blowfish or that Australian lizard. It worked. The bids dried up. The price rolled on down. The ask would go back to 1,000.
Could it be that CIBC Op. or some of their most favored investors are deep into a short position on AAPL without enough hedge insurance?
By the end of the day, I was wrung out. Like swimming in floodwater. I gave up, took up a position, and decided to wait till next Wednesday. Should be right back at 44 in anticipation of the ER.
HerbVic |
