The usual suspects have embarrassed themselves in after-hours trading, sending AAPL into headless-chicken spasms that make a mockery of the concept of investing.  In fairness to these caffeine-addled whackos, one might ask what we are supposed to make of this news out after the close: “Apple sees first sales dip in more than a decade as super-growth era falters,” reported Yahoo Finance. For me, at least, the company’s prospects of maintaining a super-growth trajectory died when Steve Cook consummated a deal with Hermes last year to market designer wristwatches. Steve Jobs probably rolled in his grave, and Apple’s mighty PR machine hasn’t recovered since.

Even though the company’s ever-eager stooges in the news media remain eager to spin Apple’s story in any way the company desires, the effort is telling. For months, the dim hacks who gin up ‘the news’ have fed us a steady diet of shimmering possibilities, even though Apple could easily become just one more company in a very crowded field of equally capable competitors. Self-driving cars and television programming are two areas in particular where Apple could surely do well, but it is not exactly a foregone conclusion that they will crush the likes of Tesla, GM, Google or Netflix.  And even if we expect Apple to achieve the same sort of success in new ventures as it has in smartphones and laptops, the payoff is years away. What are investors to do in the meantime? heck out the accompanying chart for a glimpse of the new reality._______ UPDATE (January 27, 10:53 p.m. EST): Time to dust off our longstanding target at 82.85, since that’s where this glue horse is going if it decisively cracks the 93.09 Hidden Pivot ‘secondary’ support (shown in the chart as a purple line). We’ll look to get ‘mechanically’ short on a rally back up to the line if and when it has been exceeded to the downside by at least $3. _______ UPDATE (January 31, 11:23 p.m.): The stock went as low as 92.39, well beneath the 93.09 benchmark flagged above.  That’s a strong indication of another dive somewhere down the road, but we’ll give short-covering bears wide berth for now, since they are the big buyers at the moment._______ UPDATE (February 2, 1:48 a.m. ): If the stock has gone no higher than 97.22, you can try bottom-fishing at 92.98 with a stop-loss as tight as 11 cents.  That is the midpoint Hidden Pivot support, on the 30-minute chart, of this pattern: a=100.88 on 1/26; b=92.39 on 1/28.  If you use options rather than stock, stick with near-the-moneys expiring in three weeks or less.