Stock Markets Stay Flat as Apple Approaches $2 Trillion; Bonds Swoon

The stock markets went back to their old pattern on Thursday, sending mixed messages depending on which index you looked at. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) and S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) gave up modest amounts of ground, but the Nasdaq Composite rose by a similarly small percentage. The tech company now sits just a few dozen billion dollars below the $2 trillion mark in market capitalization, and the optimism that its imminent stock split has generated could have the company hurdling above that level soon.