Stocks rolled over to trade lower on Friday after Apple said it will again close some stores because of recent spikes in coronavirus cases around the U.S.
Shares of Apple closed down 0.57%.
A total of 11 Apple stores will close in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Arizona starting on Saturday. Customers who have products in those stores for repair will have the weekend to get their devices back, Apple said. All of the stores had been reopened since Apple initially closed them in March.
"Due to current Covid-19 conditions in some of the communities we serve, we are temporarily closing stores in these areas. We take this step with an abundance of caution as we closely monitor the situation and we look forward to having our teams and customers back as soon as possible," an Apple spokesman said in a statement.
Apple previously shut its stores around the world in March in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Stores began to reopen in recent weeks with safety measures including mandatory masking, temperature checks, curbside pickup in certain regions and service by appointment.
Apple said earlier this week that it planned to reopen stores in New York City and that it was aiming for more than 200 U.S. stores to be open by the end of the week.
The announcement hit stocks across the board as the Dow was up 47 points before the news, and subsequently dropped more than 230 points before recovering slightly. The announcement negatively affected brick-and-mortar retailers in particular.
The full list of Apple stores closing is below:
Florida
- Waterside Shops
- Coconut Point
North Carolina
- Southpark
- Northlake Mall
South Carolina
- Haywood Mall
Arizona
- Chandler Fashion Center
- Scottsdale Fashion Square
- Arrowhead
- SanTan Village
- Scottsdale Quarter
- La Encantada
