'Aaa'-pple! The best bond in the world?

The Blind Squirrel's Monday Morning Notes, August 7th, 2023.

The Apple valuation conundrum continues to bewitch. Midjourney has put the 🐿️ in an outfit that appears to be a cross between an Emirates cabin crew uniform and Grace Jones in the ‘View to a Kill’ Bond movie. AI rocks!

• Apple lost US$150bn of market capitalization on Friday. The company’s bond-like characteristics are often cited when justifying the valuation of a stock that props up US equity markets (almost) single handedly. Let’s stop that.

• It is human nature to reach for sexy narratives in support of share price action. The 🐿️ hates to spoil the fun, but the reality is sadly a bit more prosaic.

• There is a temptation to fetishize about Steve Jobs ‘the visionary’ behind Apple but is it in fact Tim Cook ‘the financial engineer’ that has made Apple the $3$2.8trn monolith that it is today? 

• We take a hard look at the props supporting the prop.

• If you want to buy an Apple bond, buy an Apple bond (there are plenty of them!!). And by the way, don’t worry Mrs. Yellen, Apple’s credit rating…