Apple hits $3 trillion market cap milestone

 Apple became the first publicly traded company Friday to end a trading day above $3 trillion in its fourth straight record closing, Fox Business reported.

The technology juggernaut closed at USD 193.97, up 2.3 per cent for a market value of USD 3.04 trillion.

Earlier, the Silicon Valley company briefly rose above the USD 3 trillion mark for twice in January.

Apple's stock actually sunk into a prolonged descent that pushed its market value briefly below USD 2 trillion earlier this year amid a slowdown in growth and investor jitters about rising interest rates that affected the entire tech sector.

Its stock began to rise again earlier this month after it unveiled Vision Pro, a virtual reality headset.

"Apple invested heavily in services before the pandemic, and it's starting to bear fruit," David Russell, vice president of market intelligence at the TradeStation Group, told FOX Business.

"The market typically assigns higher multiples to those revenues, which is helping drive valuation. But the real driver has been renewed confidence in its fundamentals," he added.

Russell further stated that the higher-priced iPhones are boosting margins and investors are now looking into the future and expecting more positives with about a quarter of a billion handsets due for an upgrade soon. He also noted that Apple is also entering the Indian market which will open a bigger space and growth potential for the company.

The stock has rallied 49 per cent this year, partially based on beliefs that the Fed will soon stop hiking interest rates.

Apple closed at USD 2 trillion for the first time less than two years ago in August 2021. It topped USD 1 trillion about two years before that, reported Fox Business.

Before late co-founder Steve Jobs returned to the company in 1997, after being pushed aside by then-CEO John Sculley in 1985, the company was near bankruptcy and had to ask rival Microsoft for a cash infusion. Since its comeback, Apple's worth has steadily risen, helped in no small part by the introduction of 2007's revolutionary iPhone.

The company has been run by CEO Tim Cook since 2011.

Microsoft is the second-most valuable public company at USD 2.5 trillion. Oil giant Saudi Aramco has a market value of USD 2.08 trillion. Alphabet, the parent of Google, Amazon and Nvidia has market values above USD 1 trillion, according to Fox Business.