Apple Inc.'s big weighting within the Nasdaq is starting to turn heads, especially after a sharp dive in the company's share price on Tuesday morning created something that looked like a mini flash-crash. Apple, of course, has been growing in size as a technology company, with a massive market capitalization that gives it a 20 per cent weighting within the Nasdaq 100 - a popular benchmark for exchange traded funds.
Apple shares plunged 5.5 per cent at the start of trading - and when we say plunge, we mean a straight line down - and dragged down a number of other shares with it, along with the Nasdaq. The scene was reminiscent - if far more tame - of the dramatic dive in stocks in early May, when the Dow Jones industrial average fell about 700 points nearly instantly, before recovering.
There appeared to be little news driving Apple's downturn, other than Research In Motion Ltd.'s unveiling of its PlayBook to rival Apple's iPad, plus a rumour (since retracted) that Apple's chief financial officer was defecting to Hewlett-Packard Co. But the volume of trades was spectacular: Business Insider pointed out that more Apple shares traded within the opening minutes that it usually does all day.
David Berman