Keep It Steady… ⇥ ft.com

You know that scene out of the beginning of GoldenEye, where James Bond drives a motorcycle off the edge of a cliff¹ to chase after a plane that’s in a dangerous dive? Here, it’s Tim Cook instead of James Bond, an email instead of a motorcycle, and Apple’s stock instead of a plane. Tim Bradshaw, Financial Times:

After the company’s stock started the week 10 per cent down following a “Black Monday” for Chinese equities, Apple’s chief executive insisted in a rare intervention that consumer demand in Apple’s most important growth market remained “strong”.

The world’s most valuable company clawed back $78bn in market capitalisation it had lost earlier in the day.

Apple’s stock works with bigger numbers than anyone else’s. Therefore, even a tiny blip in their share price can wipe billions of dollars in value from the company. A much larger drop, like today’s, wipes a lot more, and erodes investor confidence. This, by the way, is probably the dumbest time for that to happen, as we’re headed into Apple’s new product season through September and October.

Update: Yeah, I thought the SEC might have a problem with this email.