Jane, Get Me Off This Crazy Thing: Apple Shares Hit New High

With the launch of the iPhone 5 just a week away and preorders for the device already sold out, Apple’s stock price is charting new heights.

Shares of the iPhone maker spiked to an all-time high on Friday, hitting $696.98 before slipping back a bit. They’re trading at $693.00 as I write this, well above their $689.96 opening price. Clearly the market is pleased to see such high demand for the iPhone 5 — demand that may be even stronger than Apple’s expectations, given how quickly preorder inventory ran out.

Said Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, “[The] positive reception of the phone gives us greater confidence that Apple can not only meet our 6-10 million iPhone 5 unit estimate for the rest of September, but also hit our 49 million unit estimate for the December quarter, which assumes 32 percent year-over-year growth.”