Microsoft got to enjoy being the world’s most valuable company for just a day before a market rally threw Apple back on top.
President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement last week sent the stock market into a downward spiral. Trump said he would impose universal tariffs on imported goods with more severe rates on China and other countries.
The move sent Apple and other tech stocks plunging Thursday, which continued through Tuesday. Apple had lost $773 billion in market value since the markets opened Thursday.
In a race to the bottom for tech stocks, Microsoft came out the luckiest and therefore became the world’s most valuable company with a market capitalization of $2.64 trillion on Wednesday to Apple’s $2.59 trillion.
Trump then announced Wednesday, one week after “Liberation Day,” that he was pausing tariffs for most countries for 90 days. In the same announcement, he said he was upping China’s tariff rate to 125%. Stock prices quickly shot up.
Microsoft ended the day with $2.9 trillion in market cap to Apple’s $2.99 trillion.