It used to be that whenever Apple's stock price started to slip, news would appear about a cool new product or the traction Apple was getting with a big-seller like the iPhone. Then the stock would resume its climb toward $200.

That's not working as well anymore. (UPDATE: at least not until the market surged this afternoon ...)

Despite breathless reports this morning about Apple approaching the sale of its 10 millionth iPhone, the stock's stuck in the low $90s, lower than it was when the report of the fake Steve Jobs heart attack surfaced on Friday.

Today's news was nudged ahead by the timely release of an NPD report on phone sales, showing the iPhone doing well, and bloggers scouring for the 10 million milestone.

Check out these top headlines on Techmeme:

iPhone Sales Drastically Surpass Q4 Consensus, Apple Reaches 10 million iPhone Goal

iPhone IS second biggest-selling US mobile

What's drastic is how much consumers are cutting back on spending, leaving the BMW of the technology world pretty exposed.

(As I write this, AAPL is starting to climb from $90 to $93, so maybe the "news" is having an effect ...)

UPDATE: Perhaps I blogged too soon on this one. The stock jumped back up and closed at $97.70, riding an afternoon market surge. Who knows how much the iPhone news contributed.