What Does Apple Mean Without Steve Jobs?

If you haven't heard the news yet Steve Jobs has taken a temporary leave of absence from Apple until the end of June. For several months health has been a concern. After taming concerns last week today Jobs made the announcement. So what does this mean for apple?

As always the price of a stock is going to reflect the news. At one point today AAPL haulted trading. Once they started again the stock dropped about 10% pretty quickly. It finally settled the day closing after hours at $79.25. Tomorrow will be interesting to see reaction as the news spreads. In the morning I can almost guarantee a bearish trade will be present. Today obviously would have been a good day to place a strangle had we known the announcement was coming - but we can't trade the past.

For tomorrow I'd suggest sitting at the computer if you want to make some money. The trades could swing pretty wide depending on how news flows in and out. Eventually by the end of the day the price should settle after traders, institutions, and all those floating stocks around get their minds wrapped around the new face of Apple. The bigger question is where will the stock land? This news may break our AAPL, RIMM similarities that we had going as Apple is likely to fall a bit more. We'll see.

The next level on the chart would be around $73.00. If that holds then the fallout will not be so bad. If the $73 mark does not hold we're probably looking at a new support level down around $60, the top of the window gap from back in July 2006. Of course the ultimate fall on this stock would be down to the $50 support from July 2006. I can't imagine AAPL falling below that.

Anyway you twist it there appears to be some good trades left on AAPL before next week's earning's announcement. Watch volatility pricing in the options. It can really stick you at times like this.