Apple share price: US and Frankfurt-listed stocks tumbled almost 10% during Thursday's sessionApple's warning on revenue rocked financial markets on Thursday, as investors shunned equities and sought safety in bonds and less risky assets amid renewed concerns about slowing global economic growth and damage from China-US trade war.
Technology stocks led a selloff across Asian, European and US shares after Apple cut its revenue forecast, its first downgrade in nearly 12 years, blaming weaker iPhone sales in China.The news also jolted currency markets and German government bond yields held close to their lowest in over two years."For moment, investors have reacted by going into non-risky assets," said Philippe Waechter, chief economist at Ostrum Asset Management, in Paris."No one wants to take any risk because none of uncertainties we are facing have been lifted, whether it's Brexit, this trade war, or growth.
Investors are putting their heads in sand and waiting."Apple's US and Frankfurt-listed shares tumbled almost 10 per cent.The alert renewed worries about corporate earnings just weeks before results season kicks off in United States and stirred worries that it signals broader malaise in global economy, said Peter Rutter, head of global equities at Royal London Asset Management."The equity market in past three or four months has begun to bake in some form of economic slowdown and a reduction in corporate earnings expectations and there's a wrestling match between waiting for that to come through," he said.Analysts on average expect SP 500 companies to increase their earnings per share by nearly 7 per cent this year, down from a forecast of 10 per cent at start of October and far below their expectations of 24 per cent EPS growth for 2018, according to Refinitiv's IBES.The news sparked a 'flash crash' in holiday-thinned currency markets as growing concerns about health of global economy, particularly in China, sent investors scurrying into safe-haven of Japanese yen, which was poised for its biggest daily rise in 20 months.Apple's warning came after data earlier this week showed a deceleration in factory activity in China and euro zone, indicating trade dispute between United States and China was taking a toll on global manufacturing.US stocks opened lower, with Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.73 per cent and Nasdaq Composite dropping 1.22 per cent.In Europe, pan European STOXX 600 was down 0.2 per cent in late afternoon trade, with major European bourses off earlier lows as better-than-expected US jobs data helping soosome concerns."You get Apple data today and then you get this (solid) jobs data.
I think we'll be waiting for evidence of some slowdown to justify some of this recent sell-off and rotation between sectors," said Mr Rutter.Chipmakers who supply parts to Apple were worst hit, sending technology stocks to their lowest since February 2017.Overnight, shares in China and Hong Kong see-sawed between gains and losses as investors braced for Beijing to roll out fresh support measures for cooling Chinese economy.'Flash Crash'Currency markets saw a wild spike in volatility in early Asian trade, with yen moving sharply higher against US dollar, breaking key technical levels and triggering stop-loss sales of US and Australian dollars.The dollar was last 1 per cent weaker against yen at 107.77, having earlier fallen as low as 104.96, its lowest level since March 2018.
The Australian dollar at one point hit levels against Japanese yen not seen since 2011.The euro was up 0.3 per cent, buying $1.1375, and dollar index, which tracks US currency against a basket of major rivals, was 0.3 per cent weaker at 96.52.Germany's 10-year bond yield was most recently at 0.18 per cent, after hitting a session low of 0.148 percent.US crude oil rose 1.5 per cent to $47.25 a barrel, and Brent crude was up 2.1 per cent at $56.07.
Gold was higher as dollar weakened, with spot gold trading up 0.3 per cent at $1,289.4 per ounce.