Apple has lost its crown as the world’s most valuable company to the oil giant Saudi Aramco, as soaring commodity prices swell profits at energy companies and technology stocks continue to slide.

In a sign that the old economy is reasserting itself over the new this year, Aramco eclipsed Apple on Wednesday night amid the ongoing rout on Wall Street.

Share in Apple, which had become the world’s first $3tn company in early January, sank another 5% on Wednesday, knocking its value down to $2.37tn (£1.94tn) – an 18% drop this year.

While Apple might be seeing sinking share prices, its profits in the first three months of this year were better than expected. However, it expects June quarter results to dent by $4-8 billion due to the ongoing supply crisis and the Chinese COVID-19 lockdown. 

The company said during a conference call that it’s still struggling to get enough chips to meet demand and contending with COVID-related shutdowns at factories in China that make iPhones and other products. “It will affect most of the product categories,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told analysts.

On the other hand, Saudi Aramco reported a 124 per cent surge in net profit in the last year from $49.0 billion in 2020 to $110.0 billion in 2021. Hours after this Yemeni rebels attacked its facilities, which caused a temporary drop in production. 

The move is mostly symbolic, but it shows how markets are shifting as the global economy grapples with rising interest rates, inflation, and supply chain problems.

Aramco stock is up over 27% so far in 2022. In March, the oil giant reported that its full-year profit last year more than doubled due to soaring oil prices.

Apple passed Saudi Aramco to become the world’s most valuable publicly traded company in 2020.

Aramco is now worth about $2.43 trillion, compared with Apple’s $2.37 trillion, according to data from Refinitiv.

Market capitalizations fluctuate frequently: earlier this year, Apple (AAPL) hit the $3 trillion mark, becoming the first to do so and making it by far the most valuable company on the planet.

Aramco at one point also held that mantle after a historic initial public offering in 2019, which propelled its valuation to $2 trillion.

But the latest market moves point to how the outlook for energy and tech producers have shifted lately.

This year, oil prices have soared to record highs, particularly on concerns about disruptions of supply from Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, has climbed about 36% so far this year, and was last trading at $106.2 a barrel.

That has buoyed players like Saudi Aramco, whose shares are up 27% so far this year.

The kingdom, one of the world’s top crude exporters, has been under pressure to raise output as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions against Moscow have roiled global energy markets.

Aramco president and CEO Amin Nasser cautioned that the company’s outlook remained uncertain due in part to “geopolitical factors”.

“We continue to make progress on increasing our crude oil production capacity, executing our gas expansion program and increasing our liquids to chemicals capacity,” Nasser said.

On the results, for 2021, he acknowledged that “economic conditions have improved considerably”. 

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