Hard to Fool, Eh?

Jay Yarow:

Apple has gone from being a sure-thing rocketship to a train wreck, as far as stocks are concerned. Some people want to cry “stock manipulation,” but the stock is down 30% since the end of September. It’s hard to totally fool the market. Something is amiss with the company.

Hard to fool the market? In the long run, arguably. In the short run, that’s laughable.

As for Apple specifically, maybe “something” is, indeed, “amiss with the company”. But the WSJ and Nikkei reports yesterday claimed something very specific about what’s wrong. Apple’s stock was at $520 over the weekend; then the WSJ ran their “due to weaker-than-expected demand” story on the front page; today, the stock closed at $486. If this weak iPhone 5 demand report turns out to be the complete bullshit it looks like, how is this not proof that the market is easily fooled?

★ Tuesday, 15 January 2013