Stocks were mixed on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaching a new record after edging higher and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite falling again, dragged by Apple. The S&P 500 remained largely flat.
The Nasdaq Composite fell more than 0.4%, dropping for the fourth day in a row. Apple dropped about 6% after announcing it would hike prices on MacBooks and iPads by more than 10%.
Concretely, the company raised the prices of Macbook models Neo, Air and Pro 1T, and for the iPad Air and Pro models. The company's stock is falling on Thursday following the news, dragging indexes.
CNBC noted that Apple's store briefly went offline on Thursday morning and went back on showing updated prices.
Addressing them in a statement, the company said that "the consumer electronics industry is facing an unprecedented challenge" as the "rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage."
"We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly," the company added, noting that it reached a "point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products."
"We know this is not welcome news, and we are working tirelessly to find solutions," Apple said.
Company CEO Tim Cook had anticipated the development in an interview days ago. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, he called price increases "unavoidable."
The index fell even though Micron surged more than 15% after reporting positive results amid relentless demand for chips.
The company's shares at one point rose above 18%, its market cap reaching $1.398 trillion and passing Meta's $1.392 trillion.
The company informed on Wednesday that its revenue more than quadrupled in the fiscal third quarter.
The company's revenue increased over $9 billion compared to the previous year. It expects a revenue of about $50 billion for the ongoing quarter, compared to $11.3 billion in 2025. The figures were significantly higher than industry estimates.
The company topped a $1 trillion market value in late May and reached a record high on Monday before pulling back sharply. However, its stock is up about 700% compared to the previous year.
UBS last month set its price target to more than $1,600 per share, meaning they could climb more than 40% from current levels. Shareholders will get a 15 cent dividend in July, officials said.
"We believe the market will start to put a more 'normal' multiple on the stock and MU will continue to re-rate higher as more details emerge about the structural changes AI has driven to the entire memory complex," the Swiss bank said.
Micron has also been able to rise prices as a result of shortages stemming from soaring demand. The company said it expects tight conditions for demand to continue at least through the next year and has signed 16 long-term agreements with customers, including data center operators and automakers.
