Apple Nears Upper-End Of Post-Earnings Trading Range

Apple Inc.

shares are trading higher by $2.38 at $96.37 in Tuesday's session. There are several catalyst for the rally including the report of the Apple Pay expanding to China and France, patents awarded to the company related to the car industry and high demand for its recent bond issue. Since the Street was not pleased with its Q1 report, Apple has been in a well defined trading range. The upper-end of the range has been at $97.34, with numerous highs in the upper $96 handle. The lower end of the range was just above its all important August 24 Flash Crash Low of $92. On two different occasions in the fourteen days of trading since the report it crept into the $92 handle, but went no lower than $92.39. On Friday, buyers stepped up into the $93, making the low on Friday at $93.01. Following a higher open, it retreated and found support ahead of the upper-end of Friday's range ($94.50), only reaching $94.61 before continuing its move higher. At this time, it has drifted up towards the upper-end of the range, so far only reaching $96.85, but has not backed far off that high. If the rally continues over the next few days, there is not much resistance based on the daily charts if the $97.34 area is breached. The reason for the being the next daily high does not come in until $100.88, which marked the high the day of Apple's Q1 report that came out after hours on January 26.