Apple stock price dips in January rollercoaster

In our last-of-2007 podcast, our resident AAPL-watcher Mike Rose pointed out Apple's exceptional fiscal performance as one of the most important stories of the year. Quite rightly so: Apple had, by all accounts, a phenomenal year. There's even predictions from analysts of AAPL reaching the frankly dizzying heights of $300 - $600 in the next 18 months - we'll see how those fare, folks.

With the financial analysts talking about Apple stock's seemingly rosy future, it's perhaps surprising news that AAPL has lost 7.5% (dropping nearly $15) just today. That's about $12 billion knocked off Apple's market cap. With Macworld around the corner, Apple stock is the subject of much speculation already - both for us covering the 'Keynote Index Fund' here at TUAW and over at Wired (to mention but a few). Undoubtedly, there's folks looking to partake in a little daytrading or trading over the duration of the entire Macworld week. With that in mind, might the Feds and SEC be more than interested in the interaction between the keynote (including its audience, one might fathom) and the effect it has on Wall Street?

For ongoing coverage of AAPL, check out our colleagues' posts at Blogging Stocks:AAPL.

Disclaimer: The points mentioned above come from a personal, and strictly non-professional, opinion, and should not be considered investment advice. For advice on stocks and investments, always seek advice from a regulated financial advice professional.

Update: We ought to add that the market did indeed drop as a whole. However, the drop in Apple's stock was disproportionate to the down day.