He added that growth in iPhone activations has “actually accelerated over the past few weeks”, and Apple’s App Store posted its best performance of the year in China during the past two weeks.
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But then, early this morning, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook emailed CNBC’s Jim Cramer and did something most unusual: he gave the business network an update on its business in China, after Cramer wondered aloud about the impact on Apple of China’s slowing economy.
No matter the reason, US stock markets may suffer only a moderately bad day, it appears.
Apple has been working hard to push into China, which has become its second biggest market after America.
About 30 minutes before market close, Apple shares were down 3.28% at $102.99 per share after being up 2% at $107.81 per share immediately following the positive commentary.
Cook, the company’s CEO, broke his usual silence on the company’s performance to say that it had still been seeing strong results in China, and that he remained optimistic about the company’s outlook there.
The concerns over China were exacerbated last week after a Gartner report said smartphone sales in the country fell for the first time ever in the previous quarter. But while both sets of comments boosted Apple shares briefly, they weren’t enough to hold the stock up for the rest of the day.
Cook said he is optimistic about Apple’s prospects in China, especially because it is only starting its transition to LTE networks and more people will be lifted in China’s middle class in the years ahead. “In this case specifically it’s the fear of what’s happening in China”.
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“I am concerned about a slowdown in Apple’s demand from China and I think they haven’t even seen the extent of it yet”, said Cowen and Company analyst Timothy Arcuri. As is illustrated in the chart below, a majority of sell-side firms are still bullish on Apple stock despite the fact that the stock has been thrashed in the market daily, in the past month.
