Apple has retraced more than 22% from its highs and fallen into a technical bear market in just 12 trading days. The market capitalization has evaporated by around $533.3 billion, or about $3.6 trillion. Apple's stock surged in August after announcing a 1:4 stock split, making it the first U.S. company to surpass $2 trillion in market capitalization. The company's stock has been sliding since then, and the absence of the new 5G iPhone at its latest fall launch has also disappointed the market.
The weakness in Apple's share price has also coincided with a widespread sell-off in tech stocks over the past few weeks, with the Nasdaq Composite Index having fallen into correction territory, down more than 10 percent from its all-time highs. Some investors believe the sell-off in the tech giant comes from concerns about high valuations that are growing too fast.
In August alone, Apple shares surged 21.4 percent, sparked by a rally over the announcement of a stock split plan. The move confused many investors on Wall Street, as the stock split does not affect the company's fundamentals or the intrinsic value of existing ownership.
The size of Berkshire's float, which made a killing this year with its investment in Apple, shrank by more than $30 billion (more than 200 billion yuan) in just 12 trading days, nearly halving the size of its float.
A technical bear market is established when a stock index falls more than 20% from its recent highs, technically establishing a bear market. A technical bear market is officially over when the market recovers to new closing highs.