AAPL Apple Inc

By Amrith Ramkumar 

The world's most-valuable public company is at risk of closing in a bear market, a worrisome sign for investors questioning whether the U.S. stock rally can regain its footing without leadership from the technology sector.

Apple Inc. shares fell more than 4% to $185.63 in midday trading Monday, bringing the stock more than 20% below its Oct. 3 peak.

A close at or below $185.65 would push Apple to the 20% decline that typically characterizes a bear market. Apple shares since recovered slightly Monday but were still down 3.9% at $185.91.

The stock held up during October's stock-market rout, losing 3%, while other highflying stocks like Amazon.com Inc. and Netflix Inc. tumbled by double digits. Apple appeared to be a safety play during that fall-off, which erased roughly $5.5 trillion in global stock-market value.

But a tepid revenue forecast earlier this month coupled with softening global growth, trade tensions, rising interest rates and peaking corporate profits have sent Apple shares tumbling.

Other technology stocks were also slumping Monday, with Amazon, Google parent Alphabet Inc., Microsoft Corp., Facebook Inc. and Netflix all falling at least 2.7%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 2.6%.

The iPhone maker, which in August became the first U.S. company to top $1 trillion in market capitalization, has lost more than $215 billion in value since its October peak.

Apple's market retreat accelerated last week after two key iPhone suppliers cut their earnings projections for the coming months. Supply chain uncertainty has made it harder to predict the number of components and handsets Apple needs, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Write to Amrith Ramkumar at amrith.ramkumar@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 19, 2018 13:31 ET (18:31 GMT)

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