Under the weight of JPMorgan's price-target cut to $102 from $104, combined with Street-wide woes plaguing the market, the shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL: sentiment, chart, options) had little hope ahead of the bell.

Not even rumors regarding the release of Apple's iPhone Nano could lift the stock. According to China's Economic Daily News, United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) may land chip orders for the handset sometime in March. What's more, the report hinted that the tech titan could launch the more compact version of the iPhone no later than June.

Heading into the close, the shares of AAPL are poised to end the day with a loss of 2.33 points, or 2.66%. The stock is now dawdling near the 85.50 level, and remains pressured by its 10-week moving average a trendline that's contained all but 1 of the security's rally attempts since late August 2008.