It’s all Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) all the time these days as the focus has been on the tech giant out of Cupertino.
Last week, it was the news AAPL would be added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average. On Monday, the focus was on the spring product presentation that featured a revamped Macbook lineup and additional details on the upcoming Apple Watch — with the spotlight on new apps and pricing.
Judging by the stock price performance, some cynicism is setting in, with Apple stock dumping intraday after an odd and slightly cheesy segment featuring Christy Turlington Burns running in Africa. The Verge live blog summed it up nicely: “This is so embarrassing I want to die.”
Between this, the $10,000 Apple Watch “Edition” model and gold laptops, some of enthusiasm waned.
In the end, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.8%, the S&P 500 gained 0.4%, the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.3%, and the Russell 2000 gained 0.5%.
Crude oil closed off the session highs as the market weighed soft economic data out of China, Japan and Germany against reports of slowing inventory builds. February trade data out of China was mixed with weak imports reflective of sagging internal demand. January German trade data was weaker than expected, with exports posting the largest drop in five months. And in Japan, fourth-quarter GDP was revised lower.
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) shares were able to shrug off another poor monthly sales report as hope builds on the new CEO’s plans to revamp and potentially simplify its menu.
At the sector level, industrials led the way with a 0.9% gain while energy slipped 0.7%.
Overall, the session was thinly traded with less than 750 million shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange floor. Tomorrow will feature another jobs update — courtesy of the government’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey — which will likely provide further evidence of tightening labor market conditions. That should keep the pressure on the Federal Reserve to prepare for an interest-rate hike in June — which would be the first since 2006.
I continue to remain defensive with a focus on areas of weakness such as Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which dropped below its 200-day moving average today in a big way for the first time since early 2013. The March $33 INTC puts I recommended to Edge Pro subscribers on Friday are already up 41% as a result.
Anthony Mirhaydari is founder of the Edge and Edge Pro investment advisory newsletters.
