So that's a 'would' built on a 'would' built on an 'expected' built on a 'perhaps' built on a 'would have'. It's the worst form of proof to take one fact, put something unknown but plausible on top of that and treat that as a fact, do the same thing a few more times and end up saying 'See, that means we never landed on the moon!' like it actually means anything.

The only actual fact in that quote is that Tim Cook went to China. Everything else is pure speculation and, frankly, fodder for fools to lap up.

These people make [LIFTED] up for living. Stop listening to them unless/until they actually have some solid evidence to back their arguments up.

So which one is it? Profit bellow or above $500?

I've forgotten all the details from the original piece (which is linked in one of my posts on the subject, so you can go check if you like). IIRC the story was that several large investment houses had sold options on Apple shares at $500. I suspect you know what that means but to be explicit - they'd promised to sell Apple shares to other people at $500 on the 19th. if the value of Apple shares on the 19th was higher than $500, they would have to buy them at whatever price they were (to then use them to fulfil the 'promise') then pass them on at $500 and thus make a loss. If the actual price of shares was less than $500, they would make a profit. Thus is was imperative for several very large investors that the price of Apple shares were not higher than $500 on the 19th.

As you can see from the data link posted, Apple shares started the year at roughly $520 and had been above $500 consistently for months. About a week before the options came due, the story this thread is about popped up, and Apple's shares dropped below $500. As people began to realise the story didn't actually make a whole lot of sense in various ways, the share price climbed back up and closed exactly on $500.

The first reading I posted was correct, the second was incorrect or at least very badly phrased.

The upshot is that if the price was more than $500, they stood to make a loss. Coincidentally, just before the options became due a story appeared that dipped the share price below $500.

In the end, the point isn't really about Apple per se, they're just the stock this was happening to at the time. It was more about the stock market and how it's fluctuations are sometimes more about itself than the companies whose stocks are traded.

Initially , as I said, I was quite sceptical about the proposition that the media stories about Apple reducing component orders were a deliberate attempt to deflate the stock price. However there is a chain of logic to support the proposition. Certainly not enough to present in a court or such but maybe enough to not dismiss it entirely as a conspiracy theory. Compared to LIBOR, it'd be a very minor fiddle.

Jon

It does look like market rigging though.

Yeah, I bet it was Google and Microsoft ganging up against the Apple. And Samsung! Oh, and Jews are in it too! They are all against Apple. And against RIMM, their shares are down as well....

Nah. Just people picking out a well performing stock and destabilising it to make more money when it inevitably goes back up.
Just happens to be Apple this time around, I'm sure it'll be MS or Google another time. Or a bank, or a nation...

So you knew about this too?
I wish I could tell when a stock is being manipulated so I could bet on it and become a billionaire. Just like you guys surely are...

No, I didn't know about it at all.
But it does sound like the sort of thing I'd do if I was a position to.

While some might think that Microsoft are evil, I do not think that they have the skills to manipulate the market like this. It looks like it was the New York investment banks.

Not much of a rally if you ask me.
From $500 down to $437, a fall of 12.6% in five days while Nasdaq 100 has stayed flat over the same period.
Don't give up your day job...

I didn't give anyone any suggestion when to sell them.