What triggered the sell-off that knocked $10 billion off the company’s market cap?
Something happened to Apple’s (AAPL) share price Thursday afternoon that has investors still scratching their heads.
The stock, which had been sailing along near its all-time high of $360 a share, started to drop at about 1 p.m. Then, at 1:39, it collapsed, falling from $355 to $349 in the space of four minutes.
In all, $10 billion got shaved off Apple’s market capitalization before the stock began to recover.
Except for the surprisingly short iPhone lines at Verizon stores Thursday, there didn’t seem to be any news behind the sell off.
“The selling is not normal just for negative news,” wrote Bullish Cross‘ Andy Zaky in an e-mail. “There was a huge spike where dollars were being skipped in the selling. I saw Apple tick from $351.70 to $349.00 within seconds. There’s something else. The selling was not normal. That’s for sure. It wasn’t orderly. Take a look for yourself.”
The chart, Zaky suggests, bears a strikingly resemblance to the flash crash of May 6, 2010. But that event shook the entire market. This one belonged to Apple.
UPDATE: Stock Tic Toc is attributing the flash crash to rumors that Steve Jobs is back in the hospital. Funny, he was reportedly sighted on the Apple campus last week with a big smile and a spring in his step. And just yesterday, two different people tweeted that he was eating lunch near them at an Indian restaurant in Mountain View. See here and here.
JP
ARTICLE from CNNMoney.com, dated 10th Feb 2011
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The International Monetary Fund issued a report Thursday on a possible replacement for the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.
The IMF said Special Drawing Rights, or SDRs, could help stabilize the global financial system.
SDRs represent potential claims on the currencies of IMF members. They were created by the IMF in 1969 and can be converted into whatever currency a borrower requires at exchange rates based on a weighted basket of international currencies. The IMF typically lends countries funds denominated in SDRs
While they are not a tangible currency, some economists argue that SDRs could be used as a less volatile alternative to the U.S. dollar.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the IMF, acknowledged there are some “technical hurdles” involved with SDRs, but he believes they could help correct global imbalances and shore up the global financial system.
“Over time, there may also be a role for the SDR to contribute to a more stable international monetary system,” he said.
The goal is to have a reserve asset for central banks that better reflects the global economy since the dollar is vulnerable to swings in the domestic economy and changes in U.S. policy.
In addition to serving as a reserve currency, the IMF also proposed creating SDR-denominated bonds, which could reduce central banks’ dependence on U.S. Treasuries. The Fund also suggested that certain assets, such as oil and gold, which are traded in U.S. dollars, could be priced using SDRs.
Oil prices usually go up when the dollar depreciates. Supporters say using SDRs to price oil on the global market could help prevent spikes in energy prices that often occur when the dollar weakens significantly.
Fred Bergsten, director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said at a conference in Washington that IMF member nations should agree to create $2 trillion worth of SDRs over the next few years.
SDRs, he said, “will further diversify the system.”
Dollar firms after starting 2011 weak
The dollar has been drifting lower so far this year as the global economy improves and investors regain their appetite for more risky assets such as stocks and commodities.
After rising above 81 in early January, the dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against a basket of other international currencies, eased below 77 earlier this week.
However, the dollar was higher Thursday against the euro, pound and yen as disappointing corporate results weighed on stock prices following several days of gains on Wall Street. The rally in the commodities market also cooled, with the price of oil and metals backing off recent highs.
In addition, renewed concerns about the debt problems facing troubled European economies put pressure on the euro and supported the dollar. The yield on Portugal’s benchmark bond rose to a record high Wednesday, and borrowing costs for Ireland, Spain and Greece remain elevated.
“The market is shedding risk, with equities and commodities weakening and the U.S. dollar broadly stronger” said Camilla Sutton, currency strategist at Scotia Capital.
Traders were also digesting comments from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, who told Congress Wednesday that despite a strengthening economic recovery, the unemployment rate remains high while inflation is “still quite low.”
Those remarks reaffirmed the view that “the Fed would be very slow to tighten policy given its dual mandate of price stability and employment,” analysts at Sucden Financial wrote in a research report.
Bernanke also urged lawmakers to come up with a “credible plan” to bring down “unsustainable” federal budget deficits.
“We expect that the outlook for the U.S. fiscal position will weigh heavily on the U.S. dollar in the quarters ahead,” said Sutton. In the near-term, however, she said “a strengthening growth profile” could help provide “a temporary period of dollar strength.”
JP
(AUTHOR’S NOTE: Since writing this blog, 2 of the videos by Ezatuli have been removed, as has his youtube account. Along with this, he himself has been arrested for spreading this info. For more details check my updated BLOG)
Recently I have came across a few videos on youtube dealing with a possible pole shift occuring mid march. The first video deals with this along with the collapse of the dollar before this time?!
The quality isn’t great but the information is vital:
Now personally, I don’t know what to believe of it all, but it’s interesting when you recognise that FEMA have been ‘preparing’ for a coming catastrophe – buying up 140 million food packages, millions of blankets, mobile shelters, portable modems for communications, underwater bodybags???? What is this for?
Some have even gone on to say that through recent solar activity (ie, in the past few days – Start of Feb 2011), these solar flares will cause a major earthquake to strike also in the next week or so:
Another video that roused my interest was from youtube user Epazuti who has had to re-upload this as it was taking down within hours and his account frozen for a time. It regards a woman caller phoning into the Alex Jones show on Fri 31st January 2011, trying to relay info from the white house.
The description to the video titled, ‘A Message To Alex Jones’, states:
“I have called your show, asked others to call your show, sent you emails and no response. Last Friday you received a call on-air from a woman claiming to be with the White House and making claims about the Obama Administrations knowledge of a Pole Shift around March 15, 2011.
Hundreds of thousands of your listens dropped everything to hear her. Then you went to a commercial break and you didn’t make any mention of her or the call when you returned on-air. To make matters more concerning your show edited out the call from that show you uploaded on youtube as if none of us would react or remember her statements. Your listeners understand that you are being watched and harassed by Homeland Security. You have said so on your show.
I am asking you to come clean about the caller from last Friday’s show and ask you to replay the call because if her statements are true this affects the lives of millions of people! I believe you are under threat, but I also believe you are a man of integrity so I am asking you to at least talk about it. We know that FEMA has ordered emergency food and other supplies because they believe some event will take place around March 15, 2011.
The documents are online and on “patriotspace” youtube channel. Now if you will just clear this up and also tell the public how HLS has threatened you then they will be exposed and your listeners can confront them about all of this now. Before it’s too late!”
Obviously I don’t want to fear-monger and I’m just presenting things that have came across my way. But I do feel that there is a definate ‘vibe’ in the air that ‘something’ is about to happen. I’m just asking that people look into what is being presented, do some research, and if you agree with whatever information you came across and feel it speaks to you then please act apon this. Get prepared.
To leave this post, I will finish with a video from youtuber VonHelton who has an ‘Urgent Message’…..
UPDATED:
Here is a great video from youtuber 9Nania explaining more of the coming pole shift on March 15th 2011!!
Also from youtuber: mattmann111:
Peace and Love
JP
Last night, my fellow compadres and I held our first film night, ‘Principa Discordia Film Society’, in London, and we thought we’d get the ball rolling by showing the third release from the Zeitgeist Movement, Zeitgeist: Moving Forward.
Now having seen the first two installments and not agreeing with alot of what was being presented (more so in the theosophical areas of the first movie), I was obviously abit wary of this third film. Now the backstory to us showing this came about from us actually attending the main London Zeitgeist meet-up last week in the heart of the financial city district. It was all nice and people were friendly and we made friends with alot of them, but for myself, something just wasn’t right.
It’s great to be idealistic and plan for the future but I just find this Zeitgeist Movement intrinsically going in the wrong direction. Here’s why:
The Venus Project presented in Moving Forward, which I have came across previously before this film, is socially and technically flawed. It would NEVER work, mainly due to man’s own destructive nature, and I just don’t fully buy into the concept that man is a product, wholly, of his environment. So for The Venus Project to actually work, there will have to be alot of social changes to occur first, ie, getting ‘rid’ of undesirables.
I find the whole Zeitgeist Movement to be completely atheistic and Marxist in it’s ideologies and to say that man will give over his personal property for The Venus Project is what will cause many wars to occur, even though the Project denounces violence in all forms. It almost seems like a utopian new world order vision. And lets not forget the fundamental idea that a resource based economy promotes equality amongst everyone (which in itself is a good concept), BUT, there has to be people who control that system and make it work, therefore, leaving room for corruption. And what is man if not corrupt, selfish and egotistic. That is part of our nature and what makes us ‘human’. So unless we go under some sort of Huxleyan Brave New World transformation, I just don’t see it happening.
I could go on and on about it but if you haven’t seen the film here it is, with further videos, one from Stefan Molyneux of Freedomain Radio going through his points and also a response to this by Peter Joseph, the creator of the Zeitgeist films.
At the end of the day it is personal discernment that will win through. Investigate and research everything that you are being told. Take nothing for granted. And don’t be lazy about this.
Peace and love
JP
Zeitgeist: Moving Forward
Stefan Molyneux’s review
Peter Joseph’s (creator of Zeitgeist) response
ALSO some other video responses that bring up what I was saying earlier:
also:
Thanks to jsnip4 for his research, views and postings. I find his videos informative and interesting. His youtube channel is http://www.youtube.com/user/jsnip4 so check out his backlog of video postings. Today I want to share his thoughts on the new webbot report released 25th Jan 2011.
If you don’t know what the webbot is, look here
part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
Thanks for watching, keep your nose to the ground and your eyes to the sky.
JP
jimmyprophet 