Okay, so this actually happened on Wednesday 26th May, and the web has already gone crazy over it. (I was half waiting to see if Microsoft bounced back to be bigger than Apple so I could write a comedy post to that effect, but with the iPad launching in Europe today, Apple stock is still on the up).

Apple overtakes Microsoft. Only took 30 years.

As an Apple – and Steve Jobs – fanboy for over three decades, I find this a remarkable turn of events. But while a close techie friend and I love to torment ourselves by looking at Apple’s stock price graph (we both nearly invested several times a couple of years ago, but I still don’t hold any US stocks directly) I wouldn’t bet on Apple outperforming from here.

It’s now the second biggest company in the US, and one of the world’s largest, too. Just doubling its market cap is subject to ‘the law of large numbers’.

Also, sooner or later it will do something evil. Big companies always do.

(Source: Business Insider)

Britain’s two biggest REITs, British Land and Land Securities, both reported published annual reports showing significant NAV increases this week.  For the first time since the middle of 2009, both are now trading at a reasonable discount to NAV.

I’ve long argued over on Monevator that the UK equity market (and perhaps even the UK economy) is very well-placed to capture the return to global growth.

Goldman Sachs agrees with me, finding previous periods of fiscal contraction (i.e. Government cuts) actually led to the UK stock market outperforming:

The reason is weak sterling. The same reason why we’re not Greece (and nor is the US).

(Source: Goldman Sachs / via FT)

The most pessimistic estimates of the cost of BP’s (horrific) rig explosion and the subsequent (potentially ecologically disastrous) oil spill in the Gulf have been pegged at £8.5 billion. Yet since the rig exploded on April 20th the company has lost as much as £17 billion off its market cap.

In contrast, Shell is mildly ahead over the same period. BP shares have rallied a little, but this valuation gap still looks too big to me:

Is BP really worth 10% less than Shell, forever on?

Six years ago, the shoe was on the other food after Shell’s reserves scandal hit its valuation. These things tend to balance themselves out over the decades.

(Source: Google Finance)

Legendary investor Peter Lynch always said you should consider buying (shares in) what you buy (in the mall).

He didn’t grow money for nearly 30% a year for over a decade by smoking funny cigarettes.

The current case in point: Apple stock.

According to this handy table, if I’d bought Apple stock in 1998 instead of the original iMac I proudly displayed on my desk, my $1,299 would now be worth $46,413.

(Source: Kyle Conroy’s Personal Blog, via Daring Fireball)

That’s the gist of a story up on the FT’s Alphaville site this morning:

Company filings of Deutsche Bank db x-tracker non-bond ETF products , for example, show that investors buying exposure to European equity ETF products would, in the event of failure, actually have had recourse, in many cases, to Japanese equities for the most part of 2009.

A filing from June 2009, for example, revealed the composition of the bank’s non-bond ETF equity collateral to be as follows:

Pink is Japan

This is quite a technical issue relating to how trackers are constructed, but it’s still a surprise. Read the FT article for the full picture.

(Source: FT Alphaville)

I’m in danger of falling in love with Standard Chartered:

• 13% rise in 2009 profits
• Record results, despite world recovering from near-Armageddon scenario
• “Very strong” start to 2010
• Paying bonuses due to “red hot” competition in its sector
• Bad debt up to $2 billion, but trending down
• Sensible business model based on, you know, lending people money for a fair return

Monevator readers may remember I held Standard Chartered and HSBC through the credit crisis. I’m somewhat overweight in the former now, but I can’t see me selling for a while.

Like many long-time admirers of STAN, I’m just hoping success doesn’t go to its head.

There’s talk of a Mumbai, India, listing in 2010, which might make political sense but I trust isn’t a harbinger of capital raising and ill-fated expansion.

(Disclosure: Long STAN and HSBA)

(Source: Reuters on Standard Chartered’s 2009 results)

FTSE 100 financials are being hammered today by at least four market bothering themes:

1. Prudential’s massive takeover of AIG’s Asian Life unit (and the rights issue it will require)
2. HSBC missing profit forecasts
3. Worries over a UK hung parliament
4. On-going Greek debt /domino concerns

Prudential is down 11%, and the likes of HSBC and Lloyds have been down as much as 5%.

Two top-of-head thoughts:

1. Could fund managers be selling down the sector in anticipation of the Prudential cash call?
2. All these companies hold a lot of UK gilts – this hung parliament fear could yet become a crisis.

It feels like an opportunity, yet I’m dithering between opportunistic purchases of Lloyds or Aviva. (Update: Swayed by the 6%+ yield I bought AV. for my income-based ISA).

(Disclosure: Long HSBC and Aviva)