Saudi Aramco overtakes Apple as the world’s largest stock exchange | Capital

Aramco’s stake is nearing a record high and the state conglomerate was valued at $2.43 billion on Wednesday. That makes Aramco worth more than Apple for the first time since 2020. The technology group lost nearly 4 percent in the stock market shortly after noon Wednesday in New York, pushing its market value to $2410 billion.

Earlier this year, Apple’s stock market value was about $1 trillion higher than Aramco’s, but Apple’s share has since lost 16 percent, while Aramco is up 27 percent.

“Even if the power shift is short-lived, it does indicate a number of forces at play in the global economy,” wrote Bloomberg Financial Agency. High oil prices are good news for Aramco, for example, while high inflation and the response to rising interest rates are weighing on tech stocks. “There is panic selling in the tech sector, among other things, and it looks like the money from that is going primarily to the energy sector, which is now having a positive outlook,” said Tim Greske, an analyst at Ingalls & Snyder. “This benefits companies like Aramco.”

Apple remains the largest stock exchange company in the United States, ahead of Microsoft ($1960 billion).