Apple's Earning Report Causes Holiday-Season Alarm

Apple's latest earnings report is causing alarm as consumers worry that production and shipping hold-ups will impact the holiday season. During the Thursday report, Apple revealed that its revenue fell short of Wall Street expectations.

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The company -- which manufactures popular iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, AirPods, MacBooks and more -- cited chip shortages and manufacturing disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic as it revealed $6 billion has been cut from its revenue over the last quarter.

Microsoft passed Apple in market cap on Friday, becoming the most valuable publicly-traded company in the world after Apple missed its earnings expectations.

Apple's quarterly sales were $83.4 billion and shares were down 3.5% in premarket trading. Apple's market cap Friday was $2.43 trillion. Microsoft's was almost $2.46 trillion.

Consumers are reminded that this year, with so many production issues and shipping problems, it is best to do holiday shopping early.

The ongoing shipping backlog is now expected to continue until the middle of next year. Congestion at the ports has led to $24 billion in goods floating on barges and as the goods sit on the water, costs are rising for average Americans, shipments are delayed and there are fewer purchasing options on store shelves.