Today has not been a good day for global stock markets, all major markets across Asia witnessed rapid selling and the effects were visible close to home as well with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 losing ground significantly. Panic gripped the markets as investors started unloading stocks causing prices to fall even further, Apple dropped into bear territory during pre-market trading and it opened the day at $94.87.
Seeing as how the pressure on Apple stock was largely due to concerns regarding its growth in China, CEO Tim Cook stepped in to assure investors that the company is seeing “strong growth” in China this quarter.
In an email sent to CNBC’s Jim Cramer, later posted on Twitter by fellow anchor Carl Quintanilla, Cook said that he receives updates on the company’s performance in China every day, “I can tell you that we have continued to experience strong growth for our business in China through July and August.”
Cook says in the email that growth in iPhone activations has accelerated over the past few weeks and that Apple has seen the best performance for the App Store in China during the last two weeks.
These are good signs as Apple gets closer to launching its new iPhones next month which are likely to arrive in China during the initial roll out phase, investors have paid attention to what Cook has said today, the company’s stock has rebounded and is currently trading at $108.