By Richard Menta 3/18/09

Apple broke back above $100 a share today after months in the double digit price range. Apple (AAPL) closed at the end of the day up $1.86, bringing it to $101.52. Yesterday, Apple closed at $99.66, just short of the $100 barrier. Apple continues to rise, as investors focused on mostly favorable news from the recent Mac OS update, while dismissing news that Mac and iPod sales have dipped 16%. Investors also did not seemed bothered by swelling consumer complaints that the new iPod shuffle now forces owners to use proprietary headphone technology, a move that Apple will presumably carry over to future iPods as well.

As we pointed out last week, though Apple retail traffic have dropped it is still fairing better than most everyone else in the malls. Sales are down, but it is apparent that not everyone is eschewing $200 iPods as retail analysts reasonably feared would happen. Despite the good news, Apple is still under the nearly $200 a share the stock commanded last summer.