News on Friday that Apple expects to lose 150 million dollars in the latest quarter has shaken up even the company's most devout believers. Reporter Peter Jon Schuller listened to Amelio's speech this afternoon. Peter Jon Schuller in San Francisco. After a serious dive LAST month, Japan's Nikkei index plunged nearly 3 percent today, closing at its lowest level in over a year. Today's big fall in share prices is the latest in a series of declines that started last month when the government announced its budget for 1997.
Investors are particularly unhappy with the government's tax policy.
The consumption tax, a national sales tax, goes up from 3 to 5 percent this spring. Ron Bevaqua, an economist with Merrill Lynch in Tokyo, says there are also other concerns. Usually a stronger yen helps the stock market because in dollar terms it increases the value of yen assets. But today, depressed investors were too busy worrying about the economy to pay much attention to currency movement. In Tokyo, this is Jocelyn Ford for Marketplace.