August 10, 2026, Apple Store in Barcelona, Spain.
Beata Saurzernul Photo | Getty Images
Amid questions about the durability of the artificial intelligence complex and concerns about falling global interest rates. apple Suddenly, investors were choosing it as a safe trade.
On Tuesday, the stock continued to outperform the broader market, rising 2.6% amid a broader rout in the tech market.
In fact, Apple stock and tech company stock prices haven’t been so negatively correlated since 2005, according to a CNBC analysis using ThinkOrSwim data. With the world’s second largest company Nasdaq 100 Index The 7.5% weighting reached a low of -0.86 on Thursday and now stands at -0.82. The iPhone maker’s stock rose 7% last month, while the Nasdaq 100 index rose 1%.
Apple has experienced periods of negative correlation with the Nasdaq over the past decade, but never this much for such a long period of time. Fittingly, the only comparable period was the first quarter of 2024, when the 30-day correlation was about as inverted as it is now. At the time, Apple was in the midst of a decline as investors moved money into major AI disruptors.
“Even if AI trading is questioned, Apple will not sell AI,” said Dave Mazza, CEO of Round Hill Investments, which runs the Apple ETF, which uses swaps to generate weekly income. “It’s becoming a hedge within the Nasdaq.”
AAPL Year to date
After lagging the Nasdaq in the first six months of this year, Apple is now up 20% compared to the index’s return of 15%. Over the past three years, the two have been roughly even, with the Nasdaq up 90%, while Apple is up 82%.
Options traders appear to think Apple’s relative strength is sustainable. About 1.5 million calls were traded in Tuesday’s trading, compared to fewer than 700,000 puts and 543,000 calls were likely initiated by buyers (less than 220,000 put buyers), according to ThinkOrSwim data.
According to Barchart’s flow analysis, net delta exposure to the underlying contract, a measure of the sensitivity of an option’s value to changes in Apple’s price, was highly skewed toward bullish positioning.
It had volume and supported positioning. Apple options were the second-most traded by volume on Tuesday, with volume nearly double the 30-day average, according to data from SpotGamma and Cboe LiveVol.
