Tech

Apple enters correction territory as stocks slide

Apple leads Nasdaq lower
VIDEO1:0201:02
Apple leads Nasdaq lower

Shares of Apple fell nearly 2 percent on Tuesday, dipping into correction territory as the broader markets slumped.

Falling as low as $110.53 a share, Apple was, at one point, down more than 10 percent from its last 52-week high of $123.82 on Nov. 4, 2015. A 10 percent downward move from the last 52-week high is known as a "correction."

Shares closed 1.8 percent lower at $111.47.

Apple CEO Tim Cook
Toru Hanai | Reuters

The Dow Jones industrial average briefly fell about 200 points on Tuesday, breaking below 18,000, as the U.S. presidential election and Federal Reserve meeting loomed. Apple fell alongside the market, contributing the most losses to the Dow and seeing the biggest point impact in the Nasdaq 100 on Tuesday afternoon.

The tech giant is the largest U.S. company by market capitalization, and thus has a major presence in the major U.S. stock indexes. While rival tech giants Facebook, Google, Amazon and Microsoft hit all-time intraday highs in October, Apple hasn't hit one since April 28, 2015.

Apple's shares have fallen almost 6 percent over the past week, after the company reported the third straight quarter of year-over-year revenue declines. The iPhone maker also revealed new MacBook Pro computers last week. The new wares have yet to hit the market, but are already drawing skeptical comparisons to rival Microsoft.

Analyst Steve Milunovich of UBS estimated on Tuesday that while many U.S. consumers still aspired to own Apple's best-selling product, a smaller share of customers were sticking with the brand, especially in China.

Apple's overall retention rate fell to 75 percent in September, Milunovich wrote, compared to 81 percent last March and 82 percent last September.

"Apple is now only five points above Android's retention rate, an important level as it determines net switchers to iOS," Milunovich wrote.

— CNBC's Fred Imbert and Gina Francolla contributed to this report