LAST WEEK, APPLE made headlines when its value – however briefly – passed that of Exxon Mobil, making it officially the world’s most valuable company.

Yesterday the Californian electronics manufacturer marked yet another milestone in its inexorable march towards global iDominance – when its value became greater than that of every single bank in the Eurozone… put together.

Reuters reports that for a period yesterday, the total value of the Dow Jones STOXX Eurozone banks index – that is, the total value of the 32 publicly-traded banks in the Eurozone – fell to around $340 billion.

That fall, Reuters explained, was due to the collapse in the value of hallmark banking stocks like BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and Unicredit of Italy.

While the markets around the world saw another torrid day, Apple’s shares performed relatively well – keeping losses to a minimum for most of the day before they ended the day down by 2.75 per cent.

But because Apple shares did not begin trading until 2:30pm Irish time, when European markets had already recorded many of their losses, Apple’s market value – of $339bn – was temporarily larger than that of the entire Eurozone banking sector.

At the close of business, Apple’s market value was at $330bn, while the banking shares had reclaimed some of their earlier worth. Exxon Mobil, for those interested, is worth $339bn as of the close of business yesterday.