Copyright CNBC
Retail investors are turning cautious on Apple ahead of its quarterly earnings report due out after the close Thursday, even as the iPhone maker hit a historic $4 trillion market valuation, JPMorgan said. Apple was the only stock in the " Magnificent 7 " megacap tech group to see net selling from individual investors over the past week, according to JPMorgan's retail flow data through Wednesday. Retail traders offloaded about $281 million worth of Apple shares, a sharp contrast from heavy buying in other big tech names. Microsoft led the inflows with $574 million of retail purchases, followed by Nvidia ($478 million), Meta Platforms ($386 million), Alphabet at ($328 million in combined share classes), Tesla ($267 million) and Amazon ($22 million). Apple's retail outflows came even as the Tim Cook-led company recently rose above a $4 trillion market capitalization , underscoring growing investor hesitation ahead of its results and concerns over slowing hardware sales and muted demand in China. Retail traders have quietly been emerging as the market's new smart money. Retail investors have been consistently buying dips throughout 2025, a strategy that has paid off handsomely as the S & P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite have both climbed to all-time highs. Retail investors' steady inflows during market pullbacks have positioned them ahead of many institutional investors who stayed cautious amid rate-cut uncertainty and geopolitical noise. Beyond the megacaps, individual investors continued to favor technology stocks overall, pouring about $1 billion into the sector, along with $146 million into communication services, JPMorgan noted.
