Lost in the market euphoria of Apple, Inc becoming the first publicly traded firm in the United States to hit a market value of $1 trillion on Aug. 2 is the reality a Chinese oil giant was really the first to reach this milestone - this in 2007.
Also unnoticed is the race for the second U.S. firm that will reach a market cap of $1 trillion is being quietly waged by investors of Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft.
State-owned oil and gas company PetroChina Company Ltd, China's second-biggest oil producer, in2007 became the first company in history to reach the $1 trillion market capitalization mark - albeit only briefly - but it did get there, nevertheless.
PetroChina briefly topped the trillion dollar mark when its stock began trading in Shanghai in November 2007. Shares of PetroChina, however, quickly plummeted erasing the record valuation before the trading day was out. PetroChina is now worth about $205 billion, a far cry from its debut 10 years ago. The stock is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
A listed firm's market capitalization is generally calculated by multiplying the number of it's by its current share price. On the other hand, PetroChina's market cap was measured using the price of its Shanghai-listed shares, and not those traded elsewhere.
PetroChina is, however, the most profitable company in Asia because of its near duopoly of the wholesale and retail segments of the oil products industry in China. Its duopoly partner is China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec).
On Aug. 2, Apple hit and exceeded $1 trillion when its stock passed $207.04 a share, and attained a new all-time high is $208.38 at the end of the trading day. As of Aug. 3, Apple was up more than 20 percent this year. As expected, Apple's shares surged after the company reported earnings that exceeded forecasts and a healthy outlook on Aug.1.
Market analysts said Apple got to the trillion-dollar level due to solid sales of the iPhone 8 and iPhone X -- particularly in China and Japan -- and a burst in services revenue from the App Store.
Wall Street thinks Apple can go even higher and might reach above $225 during the year, and $1.3 trillion for the year.
Amazon, Alphabet (owner of Google) and Microsoft have all also benefited from the market's renewed love affair with tech stocks. As of last week, Amazon was worth nearly $900 billion. Google and Microsoft are each now worth more than $800 billion.
The race for the second $1 trillion firm continues.
