Apple's $3-trillion mark has a warning for S&P

Apple, whose shares serve as a real-time proxy for risk sentiment toward the pandemic, briefly rose above $3 trillion on Monday, shattering yet another record and underscoring how the pandemic has turbocharged Big Tech’s decades-long rise.
 
The company was the first to achieve this milestone, although it failed to hold above the level through the end of the trading day. It closed 2.5 per cent higher at $182.01 and with a market capitalisation of $2.99 trillion. The advance came on a broadly positive session for stocks, where Apple and Amazon.com Inc. both contributed to the Nasdaq 100 Index outperforming.
 
If history is any guide, that milestone may signal a technical correction is ahead, for both the stock and the broader market. The ripple effect in those episodes went beyond just Apple. Huge gains in big tech stocks tend to drive the S&P 500 to record highs.
 
But those market drivers can spur big sell-offs too. Apple’s pullback after hitting the trillion-dollar milestone contributed to the bear market in the fall of 2018. It also helped fuel the tech wreck of September 2020, when the S&P 500 slid amid election-related volatility.

 
Given that Apple’s products are largely luxury items, such a move served as a real-time indicator of consumer demand and foot traffic in stores. Apple shares reacted to these steps, and the broader market saw it as a proxy for the spreading virus. Now investors are once again take their cue from this crucial stock.