Investors love Apple's headset! Shares hit an all-time high

UPDATE: A saying on Wall Street goes "buy the rumor, sell the fact." Today's action in Apple is a perfect example as the stock earlier in the day set an all-time high at $184.95 before the new Vision Pro headset was announced. But the stock then tumbled and finished the regular trading session at $179.36, down $1.60 (.88%) for the day. Analysts blamed the decline on the $3500 price of the headset.

The verdict is in. Investors, voting with their money, love Apple's new $3,000 mixed-reality headset. Even before the device is announced this afternoon at WWDC 2023 at 1 pm EDT, Apple's shares hit an all-time high. The stock is trading at $184, up $2.94 or 1.62% after earlier trading as high as $184.36 which is not only the new 52-week high but also an all-time high for Apple's shares.

Apple is now closing in on a valuation of $3 trillion. In August 2018, Apple became the first publicly traded U.S. company to reach a valuation of $1 trillion. Apple went public on December 12th, 1980 at $22 per share which is equivalent to 10 cents a share today following numerous stock splits. The last such split took place in 2020 which was a 4 for 1 split. Had you invested $1,000 in Apple at the time of the IPO and held on to the stock, it would be worth over $2 million today.

For 2023, the stock is up 39% which is well ahead of the 26.5% gain in the Nasdaq. That comes after a rough 2022. Last year Apple's stock declined by 27% while the S&P 500 dropped by 20% over the same time-period.

Besides unveiling its new mixed-reality AR/VR headset at WWDC today, Apple is also expected to preview iOS 17 which could include new Active Widgets which will allow users to interact with them via elements such as buttons and sliders. There is also speculation that Apple will remove the "Hey" from the "Hey Siri" wake phrase which will allow users to summon the virtual digital assistant by saying "Siri."

The "Find My" app is also rumored to be on the receiving end of an upgrade and a new app for those who like to keep a daily Journal is also expected to be part of iOS 17.

You can watch the Keynote live-streamed on the Apple Developer app (tap the WWDC tab on the bottom of the screen), via the Apple channel on YouTube, or on the Apple.com website.