A massive sell-off in Apple shares that's been going on for about eight weeks now appears to have been nipped in the bud with a rally from Friday's close of US$527.68 to a high around $560. While the news out of Washington, DC about possible action on the upcoming "fiscal cliff" appears to be driving a broader market rally today, John Paczkowski at AllThingsD points out the real driver behind the AAPL rally -- Wall Street analysts are pointing out the stock slide as "unmerited".

This morning, Topeka Capital Markets' Brian White sent a note to clients stating that "The sell-off in Apple's stock over the past eight weeks has gotten to the point of being 'insanely insane' given the depressed valuation, new blockbuster products for the holiday season, the attractive long-term growth opportunities that lie ahead and the company's ability to distribute significant cash flow to investors."

Over the weekend, Paczkowski pointed out that the pre-holiday decline in Apple share price is a "historical pattern ... Apple shares slip late in the year amid profit-taking and some irrationality or other. And then the company reports monster first-quarter earnings in January and they spike."