Why Apple, United Continental Holdings, and Unilever Slumped Today

Wall Street had a relatively uneventful day on Thursday, as market participants were content to watch the continuing string of earnings releases from some of the world's biggest corporations. Most major benchmarks finished close to flat on the day, although the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite underperformed most of its peers, posting nearly a half-percent loss. Contributing to the Nasdaq's decline was a poor showing from Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), but tech stocks weren't the only losers. United Continental Holdings (NYSE: UAL) and Unilever (NYSE: UL) (NYSE: UN) were also among the worst performers on the day. Below, we'll look more closely at these stocks to tell you why they did so poorly.

Shares of Apple sagged almost 2.5%, making it the worst-performing stock among the Dow Jones Industrials as investors expressed concerns about how the recent release of the iPhone 8 is going. Reports have suggested that demand for the newly available iPhone 8 has been weaker than many had hoped, and the news only makes it harder to predict how shoppers will react as the higher-end iPhone X is set to become available in the coming months. Also pulling Apple down were reports that state-owned Chinese wireless carriers have cut off LTE access for owners of the latest version of the Apple Watch. Investors will have to wait until Nov. 2 to find out how these factors have affected Apple's business.

Image source: Apple.

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Source: Fool.com