Apple has become the first publicly traded company to close a trading day with a $US3 trillion market value.
Apple shares closed up 2.3 per cent at $US193.97 on Friday, bringing its market value to $US3.04 trillion.
It is one of a handful of technology companies, including Microsoft and chipmaker Nvidia, that helped drive the S&P 500 to a gain of nearly 16 per cent in the first half of the year.
The company had briefly eclipsed a $US3 trillion market value on back-to-back days in January 2022, but couldn’t hold on by the time the market closed.
Although the significance of reaching a $US3 trillion market value is largely symbolic, its magnitude is still breath-taking.
Microsoft is the second-most valuable public company at $US2.5 trillion, while oil giant Saudi Aramco has a market value of $US2.08 trillion. Alphabet (the parent of Google), Amazon and Nvidia have market values above $US1 trillion.
It took Apple less than two years to close with a $US3 trillion market value after topping $US2 trillion for the first time in August 2021, which occurred about two years after the company reached $US1 trillion for the first time.
