Apple reaches $3 trillion valuation; markets rise to start 2022

Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Apple on Monday became the first publicly traded company with a $3 trillion market valuation as stocks rose broadly to begin 2022.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 246.76 points, or 0.68%, while the S&P 500 rose 0.64% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed the day up 1.2%.

Apple stock briefly rose 3% to a new all-time high of $182.88, exceeding the $182.85 per share required to be worth $3 trillion before pulling back later in the day and closing up 2.5%.

The company's market value first surpassed $1 trillion in August 2018 and then crossed the $2 trillion thresholds in August 2020.

Other major tech companies are nearing the threshold with Microsoft worth about $2.5 trillion and Google's parent company, Alphabet, valued at about $2 trillion.

Goldman Sachs analyst David Kostin noted that Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet, the five largest components of the S&P 500 collectively returned 37% in 2021 and now constitute about 23% of the index.

"In 2022, variables associated with earnings and valuation will determine the performance of the S&P 500 index and its underlying constituents," Kostin wrote in a note Monday.

Tesla, which has a market cap of about $1.2 trillion, saw shares shoot up 13.53% after reporting 308,600 deliveries in the fourth quarter.

Fellow automakers Ford and General Motors each also rose more than 4%.

Airline stocks rose despite mass cancellations due to COVID-19-related worker shortages with American Airlines gaining 4.4% and United rising 3.91%.

Other travel and hospitality stocks also got a boost to start the year as Norwegian Cruise Line stock increased 6.89% and Carnival stock grew 6.41%, while shares of Wynn Resorts and Las Vegas Sands each rose about 3%.

"It's a glass-half-full start to the year and that's been our perspective throughout 2021 and heading into 2022," said Tom Hainlin, global investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth management. "We're still in that modestly optimistic outlook for the year ahead and think the economy and corporate profits are set up to support rising equity prices, at least in the first part of the year."