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It seems that old-fashioned natural resources are more valuable than shiny distracting gadgets, at least for now.

Apple (again) lost its title as the world’s most valuable company to Exxon Mobil Wednesday. Exxon’s market capitalization — a measure of how much a company is worth — was $385 billion at the end of the trading day yesterday, compared to Apple’s $378 billion. Exxon last overtook Apple in late January.

The two companies have battled for years for the title. Exxon had a pretty firm grip from 2006 until about January 2012, the Wall Street Journal’s new MoneyBeat blog points out. Still for pretty much all of 2012, Apple held the crown.

Apple’s share price fell below $400 for the first time since December 2011 Wednesday, after a supplier indicated there might be a slowdown in iPhone and iPad production. The drop comes after a rough few months for Apple. Its stock price is down 42 percent from its all-time high in September 2012 when the iPhone 5 was on sale, according to the Associated Press. Some analysts and observers are wondering if the company’s lost its edge on creating breakthrough devices.

Apple reports its financial results for the first three months of the year on Tuesday.

Big Shouts to the Huffingtonpost.com