Who knew traders had so much riding on the Apple car? Or is it Steve Mnuchin?
From Reuters: Apple Inc on Tuesday confirmed that it has acquired self-driving shuttle firm Drive.ai.
From The Street: Apple Shares Jump on US-China Trade Hopes, Micron Chip Sector Outlook
A bullish assessment on U.S.-China trade talks from Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin could remove some of the recent tariff-related risks that have clouded the tech giant for the past two months.
See also: Stirrings of life at Apple’s Project Titan — updated
I wouldn’t characterize it as a pop since there was an even bigger drop yesterday. More of a bounce-back. Also, it’s the pre-market, where far lower volume pushes the direction, often to the point where one wonders if the trading whales aren’t manipulating the stock….
Doesn’t matter what happened yesterday, $2+ move is a “pop”.
If the “pop” holds I’ll probably Close my $200/$202.50 Put Spread. Thankfully I opened that position the the right time and I’ll still make a profit, albeit smaller than I imagined (an important benefit of buying in the money).
@ Greg:
AAPL’s been flirting with $200/share for a week and a half now, and it still may not close there. I’m glad you can make a profit and not lose money on your bet, but really, I can’t agree that it’s a pop a minute after it goes on the biggest dip in days….
Excellent move.
Self-driving shuttles eliminate the need for two cars in the suburbs, reduce congestion and competition for parking for everyone, give its riders freedom to use their time for recreation or work, and take advantage of the HOV lanes. The economic and environmental cost per commute mile drops by over 50%.
Apple can afford to own and operate the fleets. Car makers will have excess manufacturing capacity. Apple is the master of leveraging suppliers’s massive investments in capacity. Maybe Apple’s suppliers will manufacture in the US.
Apple is bucking the downward trend in Tech stocks. At 10:30, it’s up 2.3%, NASDAQ is down 1.5%.
One more advantage for Apple. They can subsidize car pool shuttles that require a human at the wheel for several years as part of the learning and product development.
Apple could justify this expense solely as an employment perk in Silicon Valley and other areas with bad traffic.