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Investors clearly had high hopes for Apple’s “Let’s Rock” event. The stock, which began the day at $156.99, spiked nearly two dollars to $158.83 a few minutes before the event began. During the event, however, the stock shed nearly five dollars, to end at $153.24. After the event closed, the stock began a slow, upward trend, but still has yet to reach its starting price or peak volume. So, what were investors looking for that has them so disappointed?

• Something else: Nearly all of today’s product announcements were leaked early. iTunes 8 with Genius features. Redesigned Nanos. Refreshes to the iPod Touch line. iPhone OS 2.1. Investors already had this news, for a few days in some cases, so the impact of these product announcements was likely already factored into the share price.
• Brand new products: Apart from new headphones and some iPod/iPhone games, Jobs’ keynote was devoid of any majorly new products, such as a rumored netbook or tablet computer.
• Steve still looks skinny: Though this is better suited to a gossip mag than Wall Street, real fears about Jobs’ health have spooked investors, who fear the loss of Apple’s iconic (maniacal?) CEO would spell the end of Apple’s rise.
• Mention of iPhone bugs: The release of the iPhone/iPod Touch OS 2.1 update, which targets “significantly improved battery life, fewer call drops, crashing problems, and increased speed for iTunes backups.” News of iPhone troubles tend to scare investors, who prefer a wait-and-see approach to software development, commonly known as SP1 syndrome.

Volume and price are steadily, if slowly, increasing. Whether the Let’s Rock event will provide an overall net gain for shareholders, however, remains to be seen.

Via [Gizmodo]