Apple stock rises to over $342 intra-day

On a day where the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down by US $38.20 and the Nasdaq composite is nearly flat, once again, AAPL is bucking the trend and going straight up. At this writing Apple stock is at $342.05, (a new intra-day high) and bouncing. So far the stock is up $5.93 or 1.76 percent on moderate volume. I'm sure that this is at least partially due to the anticipated Verizon (VZW) announcement tomorrow. Surprisingly enough, Verizon is about flat for the day trading at $36.01 or up only $0.08 so far. If the Verizon announcement goes as we all hope, I can see this continuing, but who knows?

Apple lowers official US iPhone 3GS price to $49

Apple made the adjustment -- a drop of $50 -- without fanfare.

It's widely expected that Verizon will announce its intention to carry Apple's iPhone tomorrow. In fact, it seems to be reveling in the anticipation among consumers a bit this morning, posting teasing tweets to Twitter. With that in mind, it makes sense that Apple would want to clear out some stock, and AT&T would want to lock in as many new 2-year contracts as possible before the big announcement.

We'll have full coverage of the news when it drops. In the meantime, if you're quite happy with AT&T and want a deal on a nice iPhone, here you go.