Amidst concerns regarding China's economic situation, the stock market is in turmoil today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is currently down 200+ points and was down a whopping 1,000 points earlier in the day.
Apple in particular has been hit hard. Before the opening bell, shares of Apple were trading below $100 for the first time since last October. And while shares have rebounded to $107 or so, the stock is still down about 17 points in the last month.
In an effort to assure investors that they have nothing to worry about, Apple CEO Tim Cook emailed Jim Cramer assuring him that Apple continues to perform well in China despite broad economic concerns within the country.
The letter reads:
As you know, we don’t give mid-quarter updates and we rarely comment on moves in Apple stock. But I know your question is on the minds of many investors.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 penetration is very low and most importantly the growth of the middle class over the next several years will be huge.
Tim
