Apple Biggest Company Ever, Akamai Beats Street, Pier One Plunges
Futures are pointing to a lower open on Wall Street with investors keeping a close eye on events in Europe. Finance ministers from the Euro Zone are meeting - as are EU leaders on Thursday - to discuss the Greek debt crisis. If a deal isn't reached, one big worry is that people in Greece will withdraw so much money from the banking system that the banks will be squeezed for liquidity and forced to increase their borrowing from the European Central Bank. That actually happened in January. Checking stocks to watch.. Apple Computer now has a market value that's greater than $700 billion dollars for the first time ever - in fact it topped $710 billion dollars. That milestone comes as the company announced it will buy $850 million dollars worth of power from a new solar farm in California owned by First Solar. Revenues and profits at Akamai beat Wall Street estimates thanks to strong demand for the company's media and security products. But Akamai also issued a cautious forecast for the current quarter due to a slowdown in growth in its media business and the impact of the strong dollar. Shares of Pier One Imports are under pressure. The home decor and furniture retailer cut its earnings estimates for 2015 as well its forecast for same store sales growth. Pier One also said its CFO is retiring. An executive vice president was named interim CFO.









