Apple stock heads for first back-to-back closes above the 50-DMA in 3 months

Shares of Apple Inc.
AAPL,
+0.72%
rose 0.8% in afternoon trading Friday, putting them on track to close above the widely followed 50-day moving average (DMA) for second straight session. The last time the technology behemoth’s stock closed in back-to-back sessions above that key technical level, which many chart watchers view as a shorter-term trend tracker, was April 8. However, the 50-DMA ($144.93) is currently well below the 200-day moving average ($158.28), which many view as a dividing line between longer-term uptrends and downtrends, but was well above the 200-DMA back in April. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+0.24%
was below its 50-DMA at 31,926.64, according to FactSet, while the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
+0.27%
traded briefly above its 50-DMA (11,658.40) at its intraday high of 11,689.70, but was currently set to close below it. The Nasdaq’s last close above the 50-DMA was April 7.