apple hits record high but leaves some investorsin dust apple (aapl.o) shares cruised to a record-highclose monday, helping catapult the s&p 500 stock index over the $20 trillion mark inwhat amounts to a victory for plain-vanilla mutual funds over a bevy of hedge fund managerswho recently backed away from the iphone maker. the largest component of the s&p 500 and acore holding on wall street, apple's stock
apple stock price last 10 years, climbed 0.9 percent to end at $133.29, aboveits record high close of $133.00 hit on feb. 23, 2015 and giving it a market value of about$699 billion. its increase helped balloon the s&p 500's.spx market capitalization on monday beyond $20 trillion for the first time.
while mutual funds have largely bet on applein recent months, some big names missed out on all or part of its recent acceleration. hedge fund manager dan loeb's third pointllc cut its stake in apple by 26 percent to 1.9 million shares in the fourth quarter,according to regulatory filings, while george soros and carl icahn also shed their appleshares last year. n contrast, the number of mutual funds reportingthey became apple shareholders in recent quarterly filings has jumped by 187 percent to 287,while the number of mutual funds liquidating their apple holdings dropped by 26 percentto 151, according to morningstar. among the big names who backed the stock,warren buffett's berkshire hathaway (brka.n)
last august said it had increased its stakein apple by 55 percent to 15 million shares, now worth $2 billion. david einhorn's hedge fund greenlight capitalin january said it still likes apple. apple has climbed 50 percent from lows inthe first half of last year and is up 15 percent so far in 2017. it was still short of its all-time intradayhigh of $134.54, set on april 28, 2015. monday's gain came after goldman sachs analystsimona jankowski raised her price target for apple to $150. she said she is more confident that an upcoming10th anniversary iphone will feature augmented-reality
technology, which could help boost demandin a saturated smartphone market. many investors are betting that apple willmark the iphone's 10th anniversary with a dramatically improved model. they also believe that strong sales of theiphone 6s two years ago have left a larger-than-normal base of customers ready to upgrade. the cupertino, california company reportedstrong december-quarter results on jan. 31, and although it gave a cautious outlook forthe current quarter, wall street expects revenue to grow this year after sinking nearly 8 percentin fiscal 2016. in 1998, when the s&p 500 closed above $10trillion for the first time, apple accounted
for just under 0.06 percent of the index. it now accounts for about 3.5 percent of thes&p 500, according to s&p dow jones indices. the 721 days that have passed since apple'sprevious record-high close represent the largest gap between such milestones since the iphone'slaunch in 2007. california crews rush to relieve dam beforenew storms hit stormwaters subsided on monday behind thenation's tallest dam, in northern california, as engineers raced to drain the rain-swollenreservoir and shore up a crumbling overflow channel before new storms sweep the regionlater this week. authorities said they averted the immediatedanger of a catastrophic failure - one capable
of unleashing a wall of water three storiestall on towns below. a mandatory evacuation of about 188,000 residentsremains in effect, butte county sheriff kory honea said at a midday news conference. the potential danger for the feather rivervalley below the lake oroville dam, 65 miles (105 km) north of sacramento, was still beingreviewed, he said. "we need to have time to make sure that beforewe allow people back into those areas it is safe to do so," he said. residents below the dam were abruptly orderedfrom their homes on sunday when an emergency spillway that acts as an automatic overflowchannel appeared in danger of imminent collapse
from severe erosion. alfred ybarra had gone down to the featherriver with his children on sunday to watch the swollen waters. "within minutes the water was up to the tireson my car," ybarra said. "i told my kids, 'you have to pray. it's the only thing that you can do." asked whether he thought officials had overreactedby ordering evacuations, ybarra said, "absolutely not." the main spillway, a separate channel, isalso damaged because part of its concrete
lining fell apart last week. both spillways are to the side of the dam,which has not been compromised, engineers said. file photo: california department of waterresources personnel monitor water flowing through a damaged spillway on the orovilledam in oroville, california, u.s., on february 10, 2017. reuters/max whittaker/file photo the situation grew less dire several hourslater on sunday as water levels subsided behind the dam, leaving the weakened unpaved emergencyspillway largely intact.
by monday, the level of the lake had droppedenough so that water was no longer pouring over the hill. erosion caused by the hole in the side ofthe main spillway appeared to have abated by monday, and it was back to more or lessnormal operations, officials said. the aim is to lower the reservoir's overallwater level by 50 feet - and prevent further spillover down the emergency hillside channel- before more rain arrives in the coming weeks and before snow-melt runoff begins in thespring, acting state water resources director bill croyle told reporters on monday. he said he hoped to achieve that goal in thenext 10 to 15 days.
another storm was forecast to arrive as earlyas wednesday or thursday, though officials said they expected much of that precipitationto fall as snow rather than rain. repairs and drainage state water resource officials said they werecontinuing to assess the damage on monday before proceeding with plans to shore up theemergency spillway with rocks and boulders that would be dropped into the hillside byhelicopters. at a staging area beside the dam on monday,construction equipment was lined up with rows of large, white rock-filled sacks waitingfor operations to begin. meanwhile, water could be seen gushing fromthe main concrete spillway as dam operators
for the california department of water resourcescontinued controlled releases through the paved chute into channels that route the wateraway from populated areas. the dam's hydropower release valves also havebeen shut down to prevent damage from sediment and debris carried by heavy rains. precipitation in northern california alreadyis running at more than twice the average level for the season and is on track to make2017 the region's wettest year on record, surpassing the 1982-83 season, when nearly90 inches of rain fell, state water data shows. the earth-filled dam lies just upstream andeast of oroville, a town of more than 16,000 people.
at 770 feet (230 meters) high, the structure,built between 1962 and 1968, is the tallest u.s. dam, exceeding the hoover dam by morethan 40 feet (12 meters). evacuation centers were set up at a fairgroundsin chico, california, about 20 miles (32 km) northwest of oroville, but major highwaysleading south out of the area were jammed as residents fled the flood zone. javier santiago, 42, fled with his wife, twochildren and several friends to the oroville dam visitors center in a public park abovethe dam and the danger zone. with blankets, pillows and a little food,santiago said: "we're going to sleep in the car."
state authorities and engineers last thursdaybegan releasing water from the dam after noticing that large chunks of concrete were missingfrom the main spillway, opening a gap 250 feet (76 meters) long, 170 feet (52 meters)wide and 40 feet (12 meters) deep. brazil supreme court judge calls for drugslegalization to beat gangs a brazilian supreme court justice called onfriday for the legalization of marijuana and even cocaine to undo the growing power ofdrug gangs behind a wave of violence that has shaken latin america's largest country. justice roberto barroso, a yale graduate andconstitutional law professor, said 50 years of war against drugs had failed miserably,clogging jails with small-time dealers and
fueling a violent gang battle for controlof the lucrative trade. "unlike the united states and europe wherethe problem lies in the impact drugs have on consumers, in brazil the problem lies inthe power drug traffickers have over poor communities," barroso told reuters in thecourt's modern glass building in brasilia. "i can assure you it is only a matter of time. either we legalize marijuana now or we doit in the future after we have spent billions and incarcerated thousands." the rare appeal from a top judge in the deeplyconservative country reflects rising fears about the violence plaguing brazil's overcrowdedprisons and city slums.
a new year's day prison massacre in the junglecity of manaus in which inmates from one drug gang decapitated dozens of rivals sparkedjail riots across the country. this week, a strike by police in brazil'ssoutheastern state of espirito santo unleashed a crime frenzy that killed more than 120 people- many of them linked to criminal gangs, according to police unions. regulating the production, sale and consumptionof marijuana - as in brazil's smaller neighbor uruguay - could be first step in curbing crimein one of the world's most dangerous countries, barroso said. "if that works we can easily move to legalizecocaine," said barroso, who as a lawyer pushed
to legalize stem cell research and gay rights. "if you want to break the power of traffickersyou need to consider legalizing cocaine." in 2013, uruguay become the first countryin the world to legalize marijuana. few countries have decriminalized the possessionof cocaine, with experts divided over the practicality of legalizing one of the mostaddictive illegal drugs. divided country while many latin american peers have decriminalizedpossession of marijuana for consumption, brazil remains divided. barroso is one of three judges on the 11-membersupreme court who recently voted in favor
of decriminalizing marijuana in a case thathe hopes could eventually pave the way for legalization. a rising number of brazil's conservative andevangelical politicians are vowing a tougher stance on drugs, however. drug use has skyrocketed in brazil, the second-biggestconsumer of cocaine after the united states, according to the united nations. since the approval in 2006 of a law that givesjudges discretion to determine who is a drug consumer and who is a dealer, the prison populationhas surged 55 percent. with more than 622,000 inmates, it is thefourth largest in the world.
one in every four male inmates was convictedfor drug trafficking, by far the most common conviction, according to justice ministrydata. "i'm not sure if my proposal for legalizationwill work, but i'm sure that the war on drugs has not," barroso said. "we cannot just keep repeating the same mistakesover and over again."
