[BUSINESS] How a deeper dive by Apple could crush this market

Crumbles by commodities and the Colossus of Cupertino have been getting much of the blame for the stock market slumping in seven of the past 10 sessions.

“If AAPL doesn’t find its footing soon, it may risk a deeper drop,” writes Andrew Nyquist, over at See It Market.

And as goes the largest company by market value, so goes the whole U.S. stock market. Or at least a further slide by Apple would act as a mighty powerful brake on the S&P 500 SPX, +0.01% SPY, -0.03%  , where it’s about 4% of the benchmark, and on the growthier Nasdaq 100 NDX, -0.17% QQQ, -0.13%  where it’s a 14% chunk.

So, what’s the matter with Apple AAPL, -2.60% ? For the first time since September 2013, the tech giant’s stock has knifed under the closely watched 200-day moving average. Many chart lovers use that as a guide to a stock’s long-term trend.

Also, Apple has entered into what’s often called “correction territory,” by dropping more than 10% from its peak. Go here for more on the iPhone maker’s technicals, from one of MarketWatch’s resident chart nerds, Tomi Kilgore.

Nyquist suggests Apple, which closed at $118.44 on Monday, could tumble into the $109-to-$115 range — an area the tech giant jumped out of in January, after quarterly results crushed forecasts.

“A move lower would likely target the open gap from the late January earnings ‘beat.’ But a pivot higher in the $115-$118 zone (give it a little wiggle room) would neutralize the selling pressure and give bulls a chance to regroup,” Nyquist says. Here’s his chart:

See It Market, StockCharts.com

What about the crumble by commodities? More on that in today’s chart of the day and call of the day.

Also read: Seattle CEO grapples with consequences of the $70k minimum wage

The stat

Charlie Bilello, research director at Pension Partners, notes that joining the DowDJIA, -0.03%   has been a bit of a kiss of death for Apple, as the iPhone maker has lost 7.2% since then.

That’s exactly as some market watchers predicted, and hardly an ascension, as some of our Dow Jones colleagues have viewed it. (Don’t get us started on the dinosaur Dow’s usefulness as a stock-market gauge, or you’ll just get vitriol and bile.)

Bilello offered that 7.2% stat and more in this tweet:

Via: Market Watch

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