Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: The market value of just one technology company in the US—Apple, the iPhone maker—is nearing that of the entire French stock market, Europe’s largest stock exchange, the media reported on Thursday.
The combined market value of all the firms listed in Paris was about USD 3.2 trillion as of Wednesday’s close in comparison with Apple’s valuation of USD 3.1 trillion, Bloomberg reported.
The rally in Apple Inc., the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, is showing no signs of easing. After closing at a record high on Wednesday, the iPhone maker’s market value is approaching that of Europe’s largest stock market: France.
Apple is now larger than all but the six largest stock markets in the world.
It’s not the first time the Cupertino, California-based company, Apple, eclipsed Paris in valuation. The duo swapped positions several times during 2022’s second-half selloff as central banks raised interest rates to tackle inflation.
The French stock market itself is at a record high this week, propelled by luxury goods companies including Louis Vuitton owner LVMH and Birkin bag manufacturer Hermes International SCA. The stocks pulled back starting in mid-summer, only to rev up again in recent weeks as evidence grew that inflation is cooling and thus interest rates may have peaked, with no recession in America.
In the US, that same backdrop has driven a renewed surge in technology stocks, especially the biggest companies. Apple soared over 50 percent in 2023, adding about USD 1 trillion in market value.
The recent surge for Apple is a significant reversal from October when the stock was pressured by concerns about revenue growth and sales in China.
According to Wall Street projections, the company’s revenue will re-accelerate in 2024 as demand for smartphones, laptops, and computers rebounds.
In July, Apple made Wall Street history as the first company with a market value over USD 3 trillion, the latest sign of big tech’s seemingly unstoppable dominance in equity markets.
Apple first became the world’s most valuable stock in 2011, when its market capitalization was nearly USD 340 billion and it comprised about 3.3 percent of the S&P 500. Since then, it rarely forfeited that title. It first reached USD 1 trillion in value in mid-2018, and USD 2 trillion in August 2020, making it the first US company to surpass that level, though Saudi Aramco was the first USD 2 trillion company overall.
The iPhone maker briefly rose above the USD 3 trillion level in early 2022, although it failed to close above it, and that peak marked the start of a downtrend that has now been fully erased.
Companies of this size are rare, and in the US the club is populated only by other megacap technology and internet stocks, including Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., and chipmaker Nvidia Corp. which became the first trillion-dollar chipmaker earlier this year.
Microsoft Corp. is the only other US stock with a valuation above USD 2 trillion.