What happened
Shares of Apple (AAPL 0.04%) fell sharply on Monday, dropping as much as 7.6%. As of 11:41 a.m. EST, however, this decline had moderated some; the stock was down 4.5%.
The move lower was fueled by coronavirus fears. Over the weekend, concerns about COVID-19's impact on the global economy grew as the respiratory illness spread to South Korea and Italy.
Apple CEO Tim Cook. Image source: Apple.
So what
Apple stock's pullback is slightly greater than the declines the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite saw. At the time of this writing, the two market indexes were down 3% and 3.6%, respectively.
Some Apple investors may be worried about the virus's impact on the company's sprawling global supply chain and on demand for the tech titan's products in China.
Now what
Last week, Apple said it no longer expected to hit its revenue guidance for its fiscal second quarter, citing the coronavirus's impact on the Chinese market. While management didn't provide an updated guidance range for the period, it did say that its business remains "fundamentally strong" and that it believes "this disruption to our business is only temporary."
