Apple shares fall for a sixth straight session on Friday, Ireland assigns investment firms to oversee Apple’s disputed cash

According to a Friday report by Reuters, Ireland assigned Goldman Sachs Asset Management, BlackRock Investment Management and Amundi to oversee EUR 15 billion in disputed taxes, which the country had collected from Apple Inc (AAPL). Earlier this month, the Irish finance department announced that Bank of New York Mellon had been selected to administer an escrow fund for the amount in question, which will be managed by the three investment companies.

Apple shares closed lower for a sixth consecutive trading session on Friday. It has also been the steepest daily loss since February 8th. The stock went down 2.32% ($3.91) to $164.94, which has been a price level not seen since February 14th ($162.88).

In the week ended on March 25th the shares of the technological company lost 7.35% of their market value compared to a week ago, which marked a second consecutive period of decrease. It has also been the worst performance since the week ended on May 1st 2016.

The stock has extended its loss to 7.40% so far during the current month, following a 6.38% surge in February. The latter has been the first gain out of three months and also the largest one since October 2017.

For the entire past year, the shares of the NASDAQ-listed tech company rose 46.11% following another 10.03% surge in 2016.

According to a 2016 ruling by the European Commission, Apple Inc has taken advantage of unfair tax incentives from Ireland. Then, in October 2017, the regulator said it would take the country to the European Court of Justice, as it had not recovered the amount due on time.

Ireland was ordered to collect EUR 13 billion in back taxes from Apple, while last year the Irish finance department said that amount could increase to as much as EUR 15 billion including interest.

According to CNN Money, the 31 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Apple Inc’s stock price, have a median target of $198.00, with a high estimate of $220.00 and a low estimate of $152.00. The median estimate is a 20.04% surge compared to the closing price of $164.94 on March 23rd.

The same media also reported that 22 out of 39 surveyed investment analysts had rated Apple Inc’s stock as “Buy”, while 13 – as “Hold”.

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 – $165.40
R2 – $165.85
R3 (Range Resistance – Sell) – $166.31
R4 (Long Breakout) – $167.68
R5 (Breakout Target 1) – $169.28
R6 (Breakout Target 2) – $169.92

S1 – $164.48
S2 – $164.03
S3 (Range Support – Buy) – $163.57
S4 (Short Breakout) – $162.20
S5 (Breakout Target 1) – $160.60
S6 (Breakout Target 2) – $159.96

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

Central Pivot Point – $169.12
R1 – $173.29
R2 – $181.65
R3 – $185.82
R4 – $190.00

S1 – $160.76
S2 – $156.59
S3 – $148.23
S4 – $139.88