On Tuesday, Apple (AAPL, Financial) shares continued their downward trend, while NVIDIA (NVDA) reclaimed its position as the world's most valuable publicly traded company by market capitalization. During U.S. trading, NVIDIA's market cap surged to $3.46 trillion, surpassing Apple's $3.33 trillion. NVIDIA's stock rose 1.68% to $143.2, whereas Apple fell 2.7% to $222.03, despite recovering slightly from earlier lows.
NVIDIA, a leader in AI chip manufacturing, had previously overtaken Apple in market cap last November, but Apple regained the top spot later that month. Apple's stock reached a record high of $260.10 on December 26 but has since dropped approximately 15%.
Apple's recent stock decline was exacerbated by downgrades from Jefferies and Loop Capital, citing weak iPhone sales and a sluggish consumer electronics market. Jefferies downgraded Apple's rating from neutral to underperform. Apple's first-quarter earnings report is expected on January 30.
Earlier, Counterpoint Research reported a significant 18% drop in iPhone sales in China for the fourth quarter of 2024, with Huawei taking the lead in the Chinese market. This decline contributed to a 5% global decrease in iPhone sales, posing challenges for Apple.
Conversely, NVIDIA's stock saw gains after UBS projected that the company's latest Blackwell product line would generate additional revenue of around $9 billion in the fourth quarter. NVIDIA's stock had remained relatively flat since its last quarterly report in November.
