According to Financial Review, Apple chief executive Tim Cook is still confident on China, despite the fact that most investors don't trust trust the economic data produced by the Chinese Government. Furthermore it was said that investors would rather place more faith in Cook's words instead.
In an email sent by Cook to US business television commentator, Jim Cramer, who relayed the contents to CNBC, he said, "I get updates on our performance in China every day, including this morning, and I can tell you that we have continued to experience strong growth for our business in China through July and August"
"Growth in iPhone activations has actually accelerated over the past few weeks, and we have had the best performance of the year for the App Store in China during the last 2 weeks."
"Obviously I can't predict the future, but our performance so far this quarter is reassuring. Additionally, I continue to believe that China represents an unprecedented opportunity over the long term as LTE [Long-Term Evolution] penetration is very low and most importantly the growth of the middle class over the next several years will be huge.
The stock market seemed to have reacted to his email. In another report, it was said that Apple shared seem to be doing well Wednesday. Shares of Apple closed at $103.12, down 2.5% on the day, or $2.64, to their lowest price in nearly a year. But that was much better than the $94.05 that Apple sunk to in early trading. His message to CNBC seemed to have somehow generated assurance that caused shares to ascend.
On the other hand however, according to the same source, the stock market has edged downward since Thursday, driven by fears of a global economic decline after China's currency devaluation on Aug 11. Nasdaq composite index closed at 4,526.25, down about 3.8%. The S&P 500 dropped 3.9%, or 77.7 points to 1893.21.
Some analysts still seem positive despite the plunge. "If you're looking for snapback potential, you're going to get the best bang for your buck from tech," LATimes quotes Alex Gauna, managing director for technology research at JMP Securities. "If that global outlook is a positive one, we'd expect tech to lead us out." And Gauna, the analyst, noted that Apple saw double-digit sales growth even in the midst of the Great Recession.
