Apple's 2024 slump puts world's most-valuable stock title at risk

Apple is off to its weakest start to a year since 2019, putting its long-standing status as the world’s most valuable stock by market value in jeopardyThe Cupertino, California-based company has been the most valuable publicly-listed company since July 2022, but the stock has fallen sharply this year after the technology giant was hit by two ratings downgrades, with analysts flagging weak macro environment in China pressuring demand for iPhones. That has shrunk its lead over fellow technology juggernaut Microsoft — whose shares have seen a less pronounced decline to begin the year — to less than $100 billion.
 

Apple shares are up as much as 0.4 per cent on Friday, snapping a four-day streak of losses. Still, the company has seen $164 billion in market value erased so far this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. While the stock has suffered bigger percentage declines in the first week of January, the losses are the biggest market value destruction at the start of any year 

on record.