Why Apple slid nearly 2.5% in premarket trading Monday

From TheStreet: ‘Apple Slides on HSBC Price Target Cut Linked to Tariff-Triggered iPhone Concerns’

Apple Inc. shares were indicated lower in pre-market trading Monday after analysts at HSBC cut their price target on the tech giant amid concerns that potential tariffs on imports from China could force it to pass on increased iPhone costs to U.S. consumers.

HSBC analyst Nicolas Cote-Colisson lowered his price target to $174 from $180, citing both the potential tariffs and renewed concerns over China’s near-term growth prospects, given Apple’s reliance on the world’s largest economy for around a fifth of its revenues.

Apple shares were marked 2.38% lower in pre-market trading Monday to indicate an opening bell price of of $184.50 each, a move that would extend the stock’s decline past 12.8% since President Donald Trump first threatened to increase tariffs on China-made goods to 25% on May 5.

My take: Cote-Colisson is new to Elmer-DeWitt. As of last month, Erwan Rambourg was still covering Apple for the world’s 7th largest bank. Last we heard from Ramboung he was downgrading Apple (following a 41% run-up) to Reduce from Hold while raising his price target to (underwater) $180 from (deep underwater) $160.