Today… Apple stock took a dive at 3pm eastern. It wasn’t a big dive… just the one where everyone tries to make some day trading profit off of some bad news.
Today’s news came from the Associated Press by way of Forbes magazine.
The only problem. The news story (despite being about Apple and McDonalds) had NOTHING to do with Apple, Inc.
Associated Press
Cow chases bear away from her favorite apple tree
Associated Press 08.18.08, 2:55 PM ET
Story Link: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/08/18/ap5334156.html
HYGIENE, COLO. –
Residents of a rural Colorado town say a cow named Apple chased off a bear that had climbed into her favorite apple tree. Jack McDonald of Hygiene, about 30 miles northwest of Denver, said the bear had climbed out of the tree when the cow approached it Sunday afternoon.
McDonald says the animals touched noses and hung out together for a bit before Apple (nasdaq: AAPL – news – people ) chased the bear off.
“It was hilarious,” McDonald says.
There’s no sign that either animal was hurt.
Apple belongs to McDonald’s (nyse: MCD – news – people ) landlady, Nancy Dayton, who has a house and three rental units on 14 acres.
Dayton says Apple weighs about 1,200 pounds and is more pet than livestock. She got her name because she loves to eat apples from the tree the bear had invaded.
This is just damned irresponsible of the editors of Forbes. The article has the terms bear, Apple, and McDonalds. Forbes automated system, picked up the story, auto labeled the words that matched company names with stock links, and then published it out as ‘relevant media.’
The only problem is that day traders are jumpy enough that if Steve Jobs looks like he might have sneezed before he speaks the stock takes a walk. The SEC has some stringent laws on this and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a head or three roll.
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Kind of makes me wish I had free cash and a stock trading account – I’d be buying some undervalued Apple right now!
*Grins* Not that there would be any legitimate reasons for the stock to drop… like.. oh…. weird 3G issues with their latest and greatest that Apple isn’t publicly addressing… or… that whole failure of a product release recently that made even Papa Jobs cringe.
but it is certainly interesting. Wonder if Apple would have grounds to sue.
Grounds to sue? I dunnathink so. Name that tort! Okay, I can think of a couple of torts, but I can’t think of a good way to defend them that doesn’t involve a lot of whining and nannynannybooboo. Forbes is in the business of printing news. They printed news. It’s not their problem if people just read the headlines and act accordingly.
This illustrates why I am not worried about SkyNet becoming sentient anytime soon.
Foxtrot!
Way to go, Forbes. *rolls eyes*