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Strategies & Market Trends : Technical analysis for shorts & longs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (49116)	1/24/2013 6:25:14 PM
From: Johnny Canuck	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 68182

Street sours on Apple The chase by Marty Cej: Apple Inc. is big, really big. With a market cap of $483 billion US [UTF-8?]â€“ at least at the close of trading yesterday [UTF-8?]â€“ Apple is the most heavily-weighted company on the Nasdaq and the S&P 500. In fact, the combined weights of General Electric and Chevron [UTF-8?]â€“ the third- and fourth-biggest stocks in the S&P 500 [UTF-8?]â€“ exert less influence on the U.S. stock market's benchmark index than Apple. Apple's size means that it is necessarily the most widely-held stock in the U.S. because of exchange-traded funds that mimic the S&P 500, Nasdaq and many other technology and consumer electronics-related indices. And let's not forget about the companies whose own fortunes are tied directly to Apple's, companies such as Flextronics, Jabil, Molex, Foxconn and others. When Apple misses expectations, everyone feels it. Apple last night reported the slowest profit growth since 2003 and slowest revenue growth in 3 ½ years thanks to rising costs and stronger competition. Profit rose less than 1 percent to $13.1 billion, which topped expectations, as sales climbed 18 percent to $54.5 billion, about $400 million short of forecasts. Apple's revenue forecast for the current quarter also fell below analysts' average expectation. Shares of Apple are down 8 percent in Europe after tumbling as much as 11 percent after hours in New York. Two analysts have downgraded the stock and as many as seven have cut their price targets. Our angles include, but are not limited to, Apple's products [UTF-8?]â€“ which are working and which aren't? Tim Cook's leadership [UTF-8?]â€“ is he the right guy to rejuvenate the product line-up and re-accelerate revenue growth? I'd like to know more about the competition; which products specifically are taking a piece of Apple's pie? As for market impact, let's be precise and comprehensive: how many points is Apple wiping from the S&P 500 at any given time? The Nasdaq? Let's also construct a basket of Apple-related stocks that we can track through the day. As influential as Apple is on global stock markets, there are other big stories that will dictate the direction of other stocks, such as Agrium. As the company continues to fend off demands to split the company up from activist shareholder Jana Partners, it has raised its fourth-quarter earnings forecast to "slightly above" $2.00 a share US, higher than the high-end of its previously announced profit range and well ahead of analysts' average expectation for profit of $1.73. Agrium shares are up 37 percent in the past 12 months. Calls are out to analysts and shareholders. CEO Mike Wilson joins us next Tuesday on Business Day AM. It is a very busy day for earnings with numbers from AT&T, Xerox, Lockheed Martin, Union Pacific, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, 3M, Nokia, Open Text, Raytheon and E-Trade. After the close, we'll hear from Microsoft and Starbucks. In economics, U.S. initial jobless claims, PMI and leading indicators. U.S. oil inventories are out at 11:00 am Eastern. Every morning Managing Editor Marty Cej writes a "chase note" to BNN's editorial staff listing the stories and events that will be in the spotlight that day.