Not paying attention to U.S. stocks recently? Perhaps the thrilling spectacle of the Olympics kept you away from your portfolio. Or the no-less-engrossing public split of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes made you forget about your 401(k). Maybe it was the languid summer, William Shatner's return as Priceline's 'negotiator' or the struggles of the Red Sox and Arsenal.

Whatever the reason, here is a quick way to get reacquainted with recent stock-market history: Slide open your iPhone, check your Facebook page and you are done.

That's right. The last few months in the world of equities can be summed up in the opposing fortunes of Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc. One is sitting atop the corporate world, having just been crowned the largest-ever U.S. company by market capitalization. (There is an asterisk, but more on that later.) The other is struggling with a share price that has nearly halved since a messy initial public offering in May.

The gap between the values placed by investors on Apple and Facebook -- around $621 billion and $42 billion, respectively -- is large enough to fit the economy of South Africa. But the distance between the yin and the yang of the U.S. stock market is more telling than that and offers three insights into investors' current thinking.

First, pervasive uncertainty and ultralow interest rates are prompting the market to look at the long term. By ascribing such a large value to Apple, investors are betting on the company being alive and well for a long time.

This isn't just a gut reaction but a belief in Apple's continued ability to generate profits. Low rates help this process by effectively reducing the value of money invested today -- think of the meager interest you get from your bank -- and increasing the importance of future returns.

'What we are seeing with Apple's rise and Facebook fall is a long-term story,' says Frank Partnoy, a professor of finance and law at the University of San Diego, whose latest book, 'Wait,' extols the merits of thinking before acting. 'People are looking at the two business models and saying: 'Apple is going to be around and Facebook might or might not be around.''

If the thought of Facebook disappearing sounds preposterous, glance, if you will, at the scrap heap of once-hot technology companies -- from Netscape Communications Inc. to Myspace (formerly owned by The Wall Street Journal's parent company, News Corp.) -- or the army of severely wounded firms such as Nokia Corp, Hewlett-Packard Co. and Research In Motion Ltd.

Apple could go the same way, but investors clearly don't think so, for reasons including a top-notch brand, a strong patent position (as Samsung Electronics Co. just found out), its cash pile and its record of innovation and productivity. On average, Apple's employees generate 64% more revenue than Facebook's workers.

The second message concerns the companies' management teams, which are both led by rookie chief executives. The difference between Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg, however, is that the former is succeeding a legend while the latter has been hailed as a legend in the making.

So far, the market has been unequivocal: Since Steve Jobs's death, Apple's share price has risen 78%. Since Mr. Zuckerberg became CEO of a public company, Facebook's shares are down 49%.

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a management professor at Yale, believes the pre-IPO hype surrounding Facebook may have clouded its executives' judgement. 'There was a grandiosity about the Facebook's management team that was problematic,' he told me.

Mr. Sonnenfeld, an expert on how companies and executives can bounce back from serious setbacks, believes Mr. Zuckerberg shouldn't pull his hoodie over his eyes. 'Going into denial mode would only get employees and investors more anxious,' he said.

Facebook declined to comment. Apple didn't respond to a request for comment.

The third issue is whether Apple's record value and Facebook's stock plunge should be seen as 'sell' and 'buy' signs, respectively, as per Warren Buffett's famous aphorism about being greedy when others are fearful and vice-versa.

I would point to two sets of numbers. First, once inflation is taken into account, Apple is smaller than Microsoft Corp., General Electric Co. and two other tech giants at their peaks. Optimists argue that is because Apple has room to expand, while the pessimists counter that it underlines fears of a slowdown in growth once the products developed in Mr. Jobs's 'skunk works' run out.

The other data point is the price/earnings ratio: Apple is trading at less than 13 times next year's estimated earnings, while Facebook is at around 30 times.

Despite its reputation for 'irrational exuberance' and short-termism, the market appears remarkably cool and long-sighted in judging the prospects of two era-defining technology giants.

Francesco Guerrera

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• economy [i´kɔnəmi]   n.经济；机制；组织   (初中英语单词)
• reaction [ri´ækʃən]   n.反应(力)   (初中英语单词)
• belief [bi´li:f]   n.相信；信仰，信条   (初中英语单词)
• ability [ə´biliti]   n.(办事)能力；才干   (初中英语单词)
• finance [´fainæns]   n.财政；金融 vt.资助   (初中英语单词)
• acting [´æktiŋ]   a.代理的 n.演戏   (初中英语单词)
• research [ri´sə:tʃ]   n.&vi.调查；探究；研究   (初中英语单词)
• patent [´peitənt, ´pæ-]   a.专利的 n.专利品   (初中英语单词)
• management [´mænidʒmənt]   n.管理；处理；经营   (初中英语单词)
• judgement [´dʒʌdʒmənt]   n.审判；报应；批评   (初中英语单词)
• expert [´ekspə:t]   n.&a.专家；内行   (初中英语单词)
• comment [´kɔment]   n.&v.评论；评注；注意   (初中英语单词)
• respond [ri´spɔnd]   v.回答；响应；有反应   (初中英语单词)
• plunge [plʌndʒ]   v.插进 n.投入；冲击   (初中英语单词)
• greedy [´gri:di]   a.贪婪的；馋的   (初中英语单词)
• fearful [´fiəfəl]   a.可怕的；担心的   (初中英语单词)
• account [ə´kaunt]   vi.说明 vt.认为 n.帐目   (初中英语单词)
• cruise [kru:z]   vi.&n.巡航；航游   (高中英语单词)
• initial [i´niʃəl]   a.最初的 n.首字母   (高中英语单词)
• offering [´ɔfəriŋ]   n.提供；礼物；捐献   (高中英语单词)
• billion [´biljən]   num.万亿   (高中英语单词)
• meager [´mi:gə]   a.瘦的；贫弱的   (高中英语单词)
• seeing [si:iŋ]   see的现在分词 n.视觉   (高中英语单词)
• saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ]   n.言语；言论；格言   (高中英语单词)
• severely [si´viəli]   ad.剧烈地；严格地   (高中英语单词)
• motion [´məuʃən]   n.手势 vt.打手势   (高中英语单词)
• revenue [´revinju:]   n.税收；收入   (高中英语单词)
• surrounding [sə´raundiŋ]   n.周围的事物   (高中英语单词)
• bounce [bauns]   v.&n.(使)反弹；拍   (高中英语单词)
• expand [ik´spænd]   vt.张开；膨胀；扩大   (高中英语单词)
• counter [´kauntə]   n.计算者；柜台；计算机   (高中英语单词)
• respectively [ri´spektivli]   ad.各自地；分别地   (英语四级单词)
• uncertainty [ʌn´sə:tənti]   n.不可靠；不确定的事   (英语四级单词)
• generate [´dʒenəreit]   vt.创造；发生；引起   (英语四级单词)
• warren [´wɔrən]   n.养兔场；大杂院   (英语四级单词)
• reputation [repju´teiʃən]   n.名誉；名声；信誉   (英语四级单词)
• remarkably [ri´mɑ:kəbli]   ad.非凡地；显著地   (英语四级单词)
• languid [´læŋgwid]   a.精神不振的   (英语六级单词)
• effectively [i´fektivli]   ad.有效地   (英语六级单词)
• preposterous [pri´pɔstərəs]   a.反常的；荒谬的   (英语六级单词)
• innovation [,inə´veiʃən]   n.改革；革新；创新   (英语六级单词)
• denial [di´naiəl]   n.否认；拒绝   (英语六级单词)
• earnings [´ə:niŋz]   n.收益；报酬；获得   (英语六级单词)