2023-07-03 11:34:32
Apple store in Hong Kong (China), July 2, 2023. MAY JAMES / AFP
Take the figure of 3,000 billion, in euros or in dollars. When it comes to the market capitalization of a company, it is all profit for its shareholders; when it concerns a public debt, taxpayers and future generations have something to worry about. Because big numbers can hide good or bad news
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Public finances: the Court of Auditors skeptical of the government’s objectives
By a curious coincidence of timing, Friday, June 30, Apple crossed for the first time at the closing of the Nasdaq the 3,000 billion dollars of market capitalization, at the time when INSEE announced that the indebtedness of France had reached 3,013 billion euros at the end of March. A bad result and a good one?
That the debt is widening to 112.5% of GDP is obviously news that is as worrying as expected. It has doubled since the 2008 crisis, and the “whatever it takes” policy to respond to a crisis linked to the Covid-19 pandemic and soaring energy prices has deepened it. This puts into perspective the criticisms of a radical left unblinkingly accusing Emmanuel Macron of bowing to liberal orthodoxy, while France has done more to support activity than to reduce its deficits.
Sitting on a mountain of cash
The fact remains that its debt ratio is ten points higher than the euro zone average, complicating its already difficult relationship with Germany, which is demanding more rigor from it. As for its ten-year borrowing rate, it flirts with 3%. “Letting go of the debt is leaving our children with fewer public services, less social protection and more taxes”, warned the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne. This does not prevent Paris from refusing any automatic rule of debt reduction desired by the “frugal” of the North.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Generative artificial intelligence: “The comeback of Silicon Valley”
For Apple shareholders, the threshold of 3,000 billion dollars (3,051 billion euros) is an event as positive as expected: 1,000 billion additional since January, 2,000 billion since 2018, it is the assurance of ever-increasing dividends. Sitting on a mountain of cash (170 billion), the giant is the most generous of Gafam.
Rising interest rates and threats of recession have done nothing about it: heckled in 2022, technology stocks have rebounded. Their layoff plans and especially the promises of artificial intelligence are seducing the markets. That Big Tech weighs heavily in the indices in the United States and Asia is logical, but the global valuation seems disconnected from economic reality. “Earnings expectations are too high and valuations too high”, warns Pimco. But it is true that it is the first global manager… of bonds.
#Big #numbers #hide #good #bad #news