One of my problems with Wall Street is that it’s so self-serving—investors are interested in making money and nothing else. Normally that’s just an idle thought or the butt of a wisecrack at a party, but not today.
Steve Jobs announced that he’s stepping down from his post as chairman of Apple. It’s no surprise—the guy has been fighting pancreatic cancer, on medical leave since January 17.
According to the BBC, Jobs has battled cancer twice in the last seven years—once in 2004 and again in 2009 when he received a liver transplant.
He’s not leaving Apple because he doesn’t believe in it or like the direction it’s taking or anything like that. He’s had health issues, and no one questions his decision to step down. And he’s not going anywhere, really—he’ll still be chairman of the board of directors, according to CNN.
Also, it’s not like he’s leaving Apple in shambles, either. Quite the contrary. The BBC reported that Apple was the world’s most valuable capitalization earlier this month, ahead of Exxon Mobil for a time.
The iPhone is a monster. The iPad and MacBooks both kill it. And Apple’s into all kinds of other things.
Will Apple be the same innovator it was with Jobs? Who knows. But the company is loaded with some of the most talented, innovative people available, so it easily could be.
So everything looks good for Apple, right? You bet. (The iPhone 5 is due out in September, for one, so that’ll be an immediate short-term boost.)
But, naturally, Wall Street is doing its usual thing. On the news that Jobs resigned, the company’s stock dropped ten points. It’s slowly creeping back up as the day goes on, but still.
Apple trades at over $370 a share. Of the companies in its sphere, only Google trades higher at about $520. The next closest is IBM at about $165.
Here’s my point…
When you’re building something, you leave your money in even in the hard times. Investors rarely build anything, which is why they’re running scared at the moment with the volatile world markets and country economies.
What the markets need right now is money going in, not going out. If Wall Street looked at the stock exchange as its own house, it would keep its money in. But of course it doesn’t. It looks at it as a means to make more money. So it lets its house fall.
