Comment: They have Netflix, we have Tesco. Buy Apple, sell British Gas

PA

The phrase “wiped off” made an inglorious return last night. Apple shares, along with other tech stocks, fell heavily for reasons analysts struggled to explain. (As usual).

Apple was down 8%, while Amazon, Alphabet (that’s Google to you and me) and Microsoft all took a tumble.

The fall in Apple stock saw its market value fall by $150 billion, an amount that is “wiped off” only if you assume those shares won’t rise ever again.

And in the context of a market cap of more than $2 trillion, a fall of $150 billion is neither here nor there.

The company is still valued at more than the value of all 100 of the companies in the FTSE 100. You could think this is shocking, unless you note that tech is where it is at and that we have very few proper tech companies in the UK.

As one commentator put it this week, the US has Netflix, Zoom and Amazon. We have Tesco.

So if profits were taken yesterday in US tech stocks – pretty spectacular profits at that – it is wrong to assume those shares have peaked.

Neither I nor anyone else can tell you if Apple shares will do better than Alphabet or Amazon over the next year or two, but it seems a very safe bet that all will continue to thrive in the longer term.

Evidence today in a survey from O2: Brits spend more on tech bills than they do on utilities -- £1555 a year compared to £1490.

They would rather go without heat in the house than they would be without the little device that connects them to the internet. Their iPhone is more important to them than running water.

Sell British Gas. Buy Apple.