Public Markets

Apple Stock Snaps Dozen-Year Streak Of WWDC Keynote Day Losses

For Apple fans and developers alike, it’s that time of year again.

During the keynote address at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) earlier today, the company trotted out the latest software updates for its popular (and profitable) phone, PC, smart watch, and television platforms.

Follow Crunchbase News on Twitter & Facebook

Other publications like The Verge, Wired, TechCrunch, MacRumors, and SixColors (among many others) covered the keynote and rounded up the product and technical announcements in great detail.

But, at Crunchbase News, we primarily cover the intersection of technology and money. And there is an Apple financial story that wasn’t covered in the keynote.

On this WWDC Keynote Day, as the company barrels ever closer to the $1 trillion market cap which would make it the stuff of business history, the world’s largest technology company put an end to a trend stretching back for at least a dozen years.

Shares in Apple closed today’s trading session in the green on the first day of WWDC, when company executives open the conference with their annual keynote and “state of the union” addresses. Apple opened this morning at $191.64 and ended regular trading hours at $191.83, according to figures reported by Yahoo Finance. It was the first time in over a decade that Apple managed to not lose ground during its big day in the spotlight.

The chart below shows price performance of Apple shares since 2006, based on historical data pulled from NASDAQ.

As the chart above shows, the past dozen or so WWDC Keynote Days haven’t been so kind to Apple’s share price. It’s a phenomenon Crunchbase News covered last year, but it’s also gotten some attention from some financial analysts in the past.

According to research firm BITG, Apple stock has never closed above its opening bell price on the first day of WWDC. That is, until now.

Historically, Apple shares have performed well in the month preceding WWDC. According to data collected by BITG for 2008-2017, Apple’s share price has risen an average of 4.2 percent in the month before WWDC. Since last month in 2018, Apple shares are up just over three percent.

Although today’s small jump would otherwise be unremarkable, it breaks with a twelve-year average of 1.4 percent declines.

What does this mean? Most likely, nothing. But, this year’s WWDC keynote differs from the past few in a key regard: there were remarkably few leaks leading up to the big speech. There was less opportunity to price this year’s features into the stock price. For Apple fans on Wall Street, it may have been a case of buying the news in the absence of rumors.

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias

Stay up to date with recent funding rounds, acquisitions, and more with the Crunchbase Daily.

Copy link