New York, May 24, 2026, 12:02 (EDT)
- Apple finished Friday at $308.82, rising 1.3%. The company’s market cap ended the day above $4.5 trillion.
- U.S. stock markets are closed for the weekend and won’t open Monday due to Memorial Day. Trading starts again Tuesday.
- Investors are watching a short trading week, inflation numbers on deck and Apple’s June developer conference coming up.
Apple Inc. stock ended Friday at $308.82, up 1.3% and putting the company’s market value above $4.5 trillion. Shares are close to recent highs going into the long U.S. market weekend.
Timing stands out now. Nasdaq notes U.S. stock markets shut Monday, May 25, for Memorial Day. Investors won’t get to trade Apple until Tuesday after the change. Apple’s own event, the Worldwide Developers Conference, runs June 8-12, where it outlines software plans.
Apple shares gained 2.9% last week, closing Friday at $300.23, up from their May 15 finish, according to the company’s historical stock data. That’s a solid swing for Apple, even if it doesn’t stand out in tech. The dollar amount is big given Apple’s scale.
Dow Jones closed at a record Friday, Reuters said. The S&P 500 posted its eighth week of gains. Nasdaq Composite also finished higher. James St. Aubin, chief investment officer at Ocean Park Asset Management, told Reuters earnings season “looked really good” and the overall picture was “really solid.” Reuters
Markets are waiting on the next reading of the personal consumption expenditures price index from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, due May 28. The PCE index is a key inflation measure for the Fed. Higher inflation could weigh on high-valuation names like Apple, since rising rates tend to hurt the value of future earnings.
AI is still the big issue for Apple. Earlier in May, Wedbush’s Daniel Ives lifted his price target on Apple to $400 from $350. Ives said the coming WWDC might be a “major inflection point” for the shares, MarketWatch reported via Morningstar. He said Apple could become a “consumer hub of AI.” Morningstar
Apple is facing more competition. Reuters said this month the company will allow users to pick third-party AI models for iOS 27 features, and has already tested working with both Alphabet’s Google and Anthropic. According to Reuters, Apple is still chasing Alphabet and Microsoft, which have launched AI tools sooner.
Apple’s executive switch is moving ahead too. Reuters said back in April that John Ternus is set to become CEO on Sept. 1 and Tim Cook will step into the executive chairman spot. Bob O’Donnell, who runs TECHnalysis Research, said Ternus’ main job will be to push for a “better AI story” that’s more tied to Apple itself than outside partners. Reuters
Risk for Apple is that investors may have already priced in an AI bounce before Apple has delivered. Reuters says OpenAI’s deal with Apple has gotten shaky, and Google’s Gemini is now set to power the new Siri later this year. If WWDC underwhelms, or Apple shows it still needs partners to compete in AI, Friday’s rally could quickly reverse into a sell-the-news move.
Apple is back at the Supreme Court, asking justices to review a contempt order tied to the Epic Games battle over App Store payment links, Reuters said. The Epic suit isn’t moving the stock daily, but services are a key part of Apple’s value, and App Store issues aren’t going away.
Apple stuck above $300 and indexes kept steady, with the market shutting before sellers had a chance to challenge the day’s move. The key test comes Tuesday, when traders will see if the $4.5 trillion print signals new conviction or was just a late burst ahead of the holiday lull.
