Apple shares hit a record high on Monday amid its longest rally in months.
The stock rose as much as 3.2% and was on track for a seventh straight session in the green, its longest such streak since July. The company is up over 11% just since 11 November.
Equities are enjoying a broadly positive session, with investors encouraged after US President Joe Biden selected Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell to serve a second term as head of the central bank. Tech stocks in particular are among the biggest gainers, and the group is up 17% off a low from early October. The move reflects investors rotating into the sector, according to JC O’Hara, chief market technician at MKM Partners.
“If managers are attempting to chase the market into year-end, they are doing it through technology stocks,” O’Hara wrote in a note dated 21 November. Looking at Apple, he wrote that “while the relative line is still sideways, we believe there is potential for this chart to continue to make new highs in the weeks ahead”.
In addition, Microsoft rose as much as 1.9% and hit an intraday record. The software giant is up more than 20% since a late September low. Microsoft’s market positioning is “the best it’s ever been”, Wells Fargo Securities wrote, adding that even with its recent gains “we still see a bright future ahead”.
Outperforming
Over the past month, both Apple and Microsoft have risen more than 10%. The S&P 500 Information Technology sector index is up over 9% over that period, easily outperforming the roughly 4% gain in the S&P 500 Index.
Nvidia gained as much as 5% and has surged more than 72% off an October low, the latest example of how the chip maker has become a favourite play for 2021.
Meta Platforms, the company formerly known as Facebook, climbed as much as 2.5%, putting the stock is on track for its highest close since September. Recent gains have brought the company’s market valuation just shy of $1-trillion, as it scrambles back above $980-billion. — Reported by Ryan Vlastelica, (c) 2021 Bloomberg LP
