Apple stock faces rough start to 2025, worst since 2008
The stock has slumped 11% in 2025 through Friday’s close, making it by far the worst performer in the Magnificent Seven group, News.Az reports, citing Bloomberg.
It has also significantly underperformed the S&P 500, which has gained about 3.7% this year and touched a fresh record high earlier this week.
Apple’s performance is the worst start of the year for the iPhone maker since 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The decline has brought shares within a few dollars of the 200-day moving average, a technical level that can be seen as a long-term support and is one that many traders watch.
The level is “always a good reference point of trend,” said Todd Sohn, an ETF and technical strategist at Strategas Securities LLC. “When you get names starting to flirt with it or start to break below it, you kind of lose confidence that the uptrend of that name is still intact.”
It’s a precarious position for Apple shares. The company was, until recently, the largest company by market value in the world, and commanded the largest weighting in the S&P 500 Index. Nvidia has since eclipsed it during Apple’s tumble.
While one single stock doesn’t always move the rest of the index, Apple’s size and position make it one to watch. So far, the S&P 500 has continued to rally, even with Apple’s selloff, but if any of the other big technology stocks similarly start to tick lower, it could be a concerning sign for the bull market that’s now entering its third year.
“The market has been pretty resilient in light of the fact that Apple has been under pressure,” Katie Stockton, managing partner and founder of Fairlead Strategies LLC, said. Still, “it definitely has the potential to create some more risk for those major indices. If we see that downside follow-through that we’re anticipating, that makes it more challenging, of course, for those indices to shrug it off.”
Stockton sees further declines for Apple stock, she said. If shares do fall below the 200-day moving average, the next level she’s watching is around $208, based on a technical analysis called Ichimoku.
That level “is a more likely point for the correction to mature,” Stockton said. “We obviously don’t have a crystal ball, but based on where they currently stand, it looks like we’ll see the 200-day moving average taken out and progress toward that secondary support.”
Apple is scheduled to report quarterly earnings Jan. 30 after markets close, a major catalyst for shares that investors will be closely watching. Wall Street expects the iPhone maker to report earnings per share of $2.35 on $124.2 billion in revenue.