Monday Trading
The market continued its upward advance on Monday as the major market indexes scored noteworthy gains. The blue chip index rose more than two and one-half percent while two broader measures of market performance, the S&P 500 Index and the NASDAQ Composite Index, each added almost one and three-quarter percent to their value.
The market opened softly with the major market indexes falling from opening levels. Microsoft, a Dow Jones Industrial Average component stock, set a negative tone for the market in the early hours of trading. The software giant warned investors that the company’s torrid growth rate in the September quarter may not be sustained in future quarters. Microsoft closed at US$52.51, down US$.64 on the day. Hewlett-Packard, the world’s number two PC maker and also a Dow component stock, was a big winner on the day, rising almost seven percent to close at US$13.98.
On Monday the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at 8,538.24, up 215.84. The S&P 500 Index finished at 899.72, higher by 15.33. The NASDAQ Composite Index rose 21.81 to close at 1,309.67. On Monday Apple moved higher US$.22 and ended the day at US$14.56.
Apple Computer
In a sign of the times for Apple, the company has announced the opening of a new online store for business customers. Prior to the introduction of Unix-based Mac OS X, Apple was a virtual no-show in the enterprise market outside the graphic design and content creation niche. Apple’s new focus on the business market comes at a time the company’s sales growth in the consumer market may not be keeping pace with the sales growth of its larger competitors. Please see the TMO story concerning the new Apple online store.
In a new development in what has become a somewhat bizarre public feud between IDG, the firm that puts on the semi-annual MACWORLD Expos and Apple Computer, the company whose products are the focus of the shows, continue in dialogue concerning IDG’s decision to relocate the summer show from New York to its original home in Boston. Please read the latest TMO coverage concerning the disagreement between the two firms.
Observer Alistair Gorthy poses an interesting question in the Apple Finance Board forum: Are Apple and Sun destined to decline together? Sun Microsystems, like Apple Computer, is a comparatively small competitor in its primary market. Please join the continuing conversations about all things related to Apple Computer and Macintosh computing in the popular Mac Observer forums.