The market's biggest stock matters — until it doesn't 🍎

No single stock, not even Apple, will drive market performance forever 📉

In 2024, Apple is down about 10%. The S&P 500 is up about 10%. (Source: Yahoo Finance)

Apple shares fell 4.1% on Thursday after the U.S. Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against the iPhone maker.

On the same day, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% to close at a record high of 5,241.53.

If you haven’t been paying attention, Apple’s stock has been performing poorly for months. It’s down 10.4% since the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, the S&P is up 9.7% during that period.

Once the largest companies by market value in the S&P 500, Apple was considered by many to be the most important stock in the market. It’s often held up as a barometer of the broader market’s performance. 

But as we’ve witnessed this year, it’s possible for the largest company to fall without bringing the rest of the market with it.

This, of course, isn’t a new development. Exxon Mobil, GE, IBM, AT&T, and General Motors are among names that once held the most-valuable-company title over the past 60 years. None of them are currently in the top 10. And yet, the market has trended higher during this period.