iPhone fallout: Apple turns sour
Wall Street has seen a drop in Apple shares amid disappointment about its two latest iPhone products.
Shares in the company dropped, last down 5 percent to US$469.83, extending losses from Wednesday when the company unveiled its two latest iPhones.
Analysts at UBS, Bank of America and Credit Suisse Group downgraded Apple's stock, saying the high price its iPhone 5C, starting at US$99, will limit sales in emerging markets, according to Bloomberg News.
"Investors were put off that Apple's price point didn't go low enough to attract a new market. It doesn't have the same range in price that Apple's competitors have," Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia, told Reuters.
"Also, there was nothing transformational announced. It has the fingerprint scan and new colours, but bigger features, like different screen sizes, don't seem to be at the ready. This was less than expected from a company that has a reputation for surprising with a killer product or strategy," Luschini said.
Meanwhile, investors snapped up a record US$49 billion of bonds sold by Verizon Communications, helping to fund its US$130 billion buyout of Vodafone's 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless.
"The sheer size of this deal is impressive in and of itself," Bonnie Baha, who heads Global Developed Credit at DoubleLine, told Reuters.
"It just goes to show that despite the spectre of higher [US] Treasury rates going forward, investor demand remains for attractively priced corporate credit deals."
