Technology: Apple worth as much as euro zone banks

LONDON: US technology company Apple is now worth as much as the 32 biggest euro zone banks. That’s the stark result from a steep fall in the share price of banks including Spain’s Santander, France’s BNP Paribas, Germany’s Deutsche Bank and Italy’s Unicredit, compared to a steady rise in Apple’s valuation, according to Thomson Reuters data. Earlier on Friday the DJ STOXX euro zone banks index fell four per cent, valuing its 32 members at $340 billion. That’s based on the market capitalisation of their free-float shares, which for some French banks in particular is less than 100 per cent. The index has crashed by a third since the start of July, hammered by fears banks will lose billions from their holdings of euro zone government bonds.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 21^st, 2011.