Apple CEO Tim Cook delivers the keynote address during the 2020 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference at Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California, June 22, 2020.
Brooks Kraft | Apple Inc. via Reuters
The blistering rally that pushed Apple‘s market value over $2 trillion this week is showing no signs of slowing.
Shares of Apple jumped another 4% to a session high of $493.59 on Friday, bringing its weekly gains to nearly 7%. The tech giant made Wall Street history on Wednesday by becoming the first U.S. company to ever hit a market cap of $2 trillion. Its market value will end the week at $2.1 trillion.
This week’s strong performance came ahead of its planned 4-for-1 stock split at the end of this month. Its share price is set to drop to about $123 and Apple investors will receive three additional shares for each they already own. Apple said the move is to make “the stock more accessible to a broader base of investors.”
Apple played a key role in lifting the broader market out of its deep coronavirus rout. The tech giant has had the biggest point impact on the S&P 500 this year, pushing the broad equity benchmark back to a record high. It’s also a powerhouse for the 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average, adding more than 1,200 points to the average in 2020 as the stock more than doubled from its March low.
Its meteoric rise this year is widely attributed to its strong earnings, optimism towards its 5G cycle, as well as investors’ embrace of its megacap safety amid the unprecedented turmoil.
Some analysts said the juggernaut has reached a special status, becoming almost a market or asset class unto itself, since investors buy it both for growth and safety.
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