Race is on for second place after Apple’s $1 trillion valuation

Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet are locked in a tight race to become the second publicly-listed US company to reach a $1 trillion stock market value after Apple became the first to touch the 13-digit milestone.

Wall Street’s optimism about last year’s 10th anniversary iPhone, coupled with record share buybacks, have propelled Apple’s stock 34 per cent higher over the past 12 months, pushing the company’s stock market value above $1 trillion on Thursday.

The Cupertino, California company’s shares added another 0.3 per cent on Friday, putting its market capitalization at $1.005 trillion.

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Apple’s 12-month gain is far better than the S&P 500’s 14 per cent increase over the past year, but it pales beside Amazon’s astounding 85 per cent surge, propelled by the online retailer’s and cloud computing heavyweight’s scorchingly fast revenue and profit growth.