Fueled By News, Apple Stock Takes Off by: Dan Hughes ([email protected]) After a short halt to trading at the opening of the market, news of Microsoft Corp. making a $150 million investment in Apple Computer coupled with the newly announced board of directors pushed shares of the Cupertino-based company up by more than 35 percent in morning trading. Shares of the company closed at 6 9/16 on extremely heavy volume; over 37 million shares traded hands today. Following Gil Amelio's departure from his CEO post in mid-July, Apple shares were trading at 10-year lows, but the stock has made a significant move towards the upside since bottoming out. Rumors of Steve Jobs being voted in as chairman of the company propelled the stock over 30% last week, and today's move now puts shares of the company a full 100% higher than the fore-mentioned 10-year lows of last month.