Apple shares close lower on Friday, the release of company’s HomePod speaker delayed until 2018

According to a statement by Apple Inc (AAPL) on Friday, the release of its HomePod speaker set will be pushed back to early 2018. The product was first announced during Apples developer conference in June.

Apple shares closed lower for the sixth time in the past seven trading sessions on Friday. The stock went down 0.56% ($0.95) to $170.15, after touching an intraday low at $169.64, or a price level not seen since November 15th ($168.38).

In the week ended on November 19th the shares of the technological company lost 2.59% of their market value compared to a week ago, which marked the first drop out of four weeks. It has also been the worst performance since the week ended on September 24th.

The stock has pared its advance to 0.66% so far during the current month, following a 9.68% surge in October. The latter has been the third gain in the past four months.

For the entire past year, the shares of the NASDAQ-listed company rose 10.03%. The stock has gained another 46.91% so far in 2017.

“We can’t wait for people to experience HomePod, Apple’s breakthrough wireless speaker for the home, but we need a little more time before it’s ready for our customers”, Apple Inc said in an emailed statement, cited by Livemint.

“We’ll start shipping in the US, UK and Australia in early 2018.”

Priced at $349 and featuring Apple Incs Siri digital assistant, the HomePod speaker provides high-quality audio experience coupled with the Apple Music subscription service.

Meanwhile, according to a survey by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, a rival product, Amazon Echo, has already had an installed base of 20 million units across the United States as of the end of Q3, which represents about 73% of the market.

According to CNN Money, the 32 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Apple Inc’s stock price, have a median target of $192.50, with a high estimate of $235.00 and a low estimate of $148.00. The median estimate is a 13.14% surge compared to the closing price of $170.15 on November 17th.

The same media also reported that 26 out of 37 surveyed investment analysts had rated Apple Inc’s stock as “Buy”, while 5 – as “Hold”. On the other hand, 1 analyst had recommended selling the stock.

Daily and Weekly Pivot Levels

With the help of the Camarilla calculation method, today’s levels of importance for the Apple stock are presented as follows:

R1 – $170.31
R2 – $170.47
R3 (Range Resistance – Sell) – $170.63
R4 (Long Breakout) – $171.11
R5 (Breakout Target 1) – $171.67
R6 (Breakout Target 2) – $171.91

S1 – $169.99
S2 – $169.83
S3 (Range Support – Buy) – $169.67
S4 (Short Breakout) – $169.19
S5 (Breakout Target 1) – $168.63
S6 (Breakout Target 2) – $168.39

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for Apple Inc (AAPL) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $171.09
R1 – $173.73
R2 – $177.30
R3 – $179.94
R4 – $182.57

S1 – $167.52
S2 – $164.88
S3 – $161.31
S4 – $157.73