The US Department of Justice is taking action against Apple!
Apple's market value evaporated by 800 billion yuan overnight
According to CCTV News, on March 21st local time, US Attorney General Merrick Garland stated at a press conference that the US Department of Justice and Attorney General of more than a dozen states have filed antitrust lawsuits against Apple, accusing the company of monopolizing the mobile phone market using its control over Apple's hardware and software, harming the interests of consumers, developers, and competitor companies.
It is reported that the lawsuit filed by the US Department of Justice and 16 Attorney General in a federal court in New Jersey states that Apple's anti competitive behavior goes beyond the normal business scope of its phones and watches.
Galan stated that the Supreme Court defines monopolistic behavior as "the act of controlling prices or excluding competition.". Officials from the Ministry of Justice also stated that it is not ruled out to use the measure of splitting the company to resolve this antitrust lawsuit.
Apple stated that complying with regulatory regulations would cost a significant amount of money, may prevent it from launching new products or services, and may harm customer needs.
Apple statement stated that both in fact and in law, this lawsuit is untenable. Apple innovates day after day, creating technologies that people love, designing products that can seamlessly collaborate, protecting people's privacy and security, and creating a better experience for users. Apple believes that this case threatens its foundation and the principle of allowing its products to stand out in fierce competition. It warns that it will "set a dangerous precedent for the government to exert heavy pressure on technology involving the public," and promises to "vigorously defend itself.".
Affected by the above news, Apple's stock price fell by over 4%. The market value evaporated overnight by over 110 billion US dollars (approximately 800 billion yuan).
The largest new Apple store in China opened in Shanghai
In addition, on the evening of March 21st at 7 o'clock, the Apple retail store located opposite Jing'an Temple in Jing'an District, Shanghai opened. This huge store is the 57th Apple store in Greater China, the 47th Apple store in Chinese Mainland, and the 8th Apple store in Shanghai. It is also the largest store in China by area.
A reporter from Securities Times · E Company saw at the scene that at around 7 pm, there was a sea of people and dozens of police officers were maintaining order at the scene. Except for customers who started queuing early, most people were unable to enter the store. Due to the new store being located in a sunken square, most customers were unable to even see the true appearance of the store.
At 8 o'clock in the evening, reminders were repeatedly played on site, saying "The live music has ended, there are no more activities today." The police on site also reminded fans that the activities have ended, please come back tomorrow, but a large number of fans are still unwilling to leave. At 8:20 pm, Exit 15 of Jing'an Temple subway station, which is closest to the event site, was temporarily closed.
A reporter from Securities Times · E Company learned on site that many of the customers who came to queue that day actually came for limited edition opening gift boxes.
It is reported that when new Apple stores open, they usually provide free limited edition opening gift boxes. The gift box for this opening is highly favored by fans due to its exquisite design and elements such as the Shanghai city flower Magnolia.
The reporter saw on site that the limited edition opening gift box provided by Apple includes Apple logo stickers, brooches, canvas bags, etc. After receiving the gift box, many fans immediately resell it, and some scalpers also purchased the gift box on site.
(Someone purchased gift boxes on site)
A scalper asked a boy holding a gift box at the scene if he was considering selling it for 200 yuan, but the boy refused and said, "No, I just returned 250 yuan." In Xianyu, several sellers also resold the gift box for up to 400 yuan.
Chinese concept stocks generally fell
On Thursday (March 21), all three major US stock indexes closed higher. As of the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.68% to 39781.37 points, the S&P 500 Index rose 0.32% to 5241.53 points, and the Nasdaq rose 0.2% to 16401.84 points. The three major US stock indexes continued to reach historic highs.
Technology stocks fluctuated, with Apple falling 4.09%, Amazon remaining stable, Netflix falling 0.79%, Google falling 0.77%, Facebook rising 0.44%, and Microsoft rising 0.97%.
Bank stocks rose overall, with JPMorgan Chase up 1.36%, Goldman Sachs up 4.34%, Citigroup up 2%, Morgan Stanley up 2.2%, Bank of America up 2.07%, and Wells Fargo up 0.96%.
Energy stocks collectively rose, with ExxonMobil up 0.44%, Chevron up 0.21%, ConocoPhillips up 1.35%, Schlumberger up 0.04%, and Western Oil up 0.2%.
Chip stocks generally rose, with Micron Technology up 14.13%, Broadcom up 5.64%, Applied Materials up 2.8%, ASMC up 2.05%, TSMC up 1.98%, Qualcomm up 1.9%, NVIDIA up 1.18%, Intel up 0.52%, and Chaowei Semiconductor down 0.58%.
Popular Chinese concept stocks generally fell, with the Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index down 1.6%, Bilibili down 8.79%, Huya Live down 7.5%, Pinduoduo down 7.47%, Tiger Securities down 6.16%, Huazhu down 5.05%, Jingke Energy down 4.98%, Zhongtong Express down 4.29%, Futu Holdings down 3.99%, Yihang Zhineng down 3.99%, and JD.com down 3.87%; In terms of growth, Lujin Holdings rose 45.79%, Shuodi Biotechnology rose 13.59%, and Shengmei Semiconductor rose 3.32%. Zhonggai New Energy Vehicle stocks fell across the board, with NIO Automobile falling 1.96%, Xiaopeng Automobile falling 2.79%, and Ideal Automobile falling 7.48%.