Saturday Night Quarterback Part 2 says (on a Sunday), for the week ahead expect…
A week of Big Tech earnings reports will confirm or reverse what sure looks like a sector rotation away from tech shares and into metal and mining company stocks.
A week of Big Tech earnings reports will confirm or reverse what sure looks like a sector rotation away from tech shares and into metal and mining company stocks.
Prices for memory chips are forecast to soar in 2026. but what just as bad/even worse it looks like chip customers are looking at serious supply shortages during the year.
Higher prices and supply shortages could be enough to put earnings at risk at some high multiple cloud and AI companies.
I expect more volatility as forth quarter earnings season picks up speed. Next week, despite the short week created by Monday’s Martin Luther King holiday, 157 companies are scheduled to report earnings with highlights that include Netflix (NFLX) on Tuesday; and General Electric (GE),Procter & Gamble (PG), and Intel (INTC) on Thursday.
India has overtaken China to become the top source of smartphones sold in the United States. In the quarter through June, India was the largest manufacturer of smartphones shipped to the United States for the first time, accounting for 44% of the market, according to Canalys data. China accounted for more than 60% of all estimated shipments a year ago. That’s down to just 25% now.
Apple (AAPL) is moving away from a strict reliance on in-house models for Siri and is actively exploring partnerships with third-party AI providers like OpenAI (ChatGPT) and Anthropic (Claude). Apple had focused on
developing proprietary AI technology for its Siri digital assistant.
My first take away from President Donald Trump’s Rose Garden speech on his new global reciprocal tariff plan is that it worse than expected. In some cases shockingly worse.
By itself, the display stand in the main Vodafone store in Venice doesn’t prove much. But with the context of European anger at U.S tariffs and consumer boycott of U.S. goods in countries like Denmark, I found the empty rack fro Apple’s iPhone and the big display of phones from China’s Xiaomi, well, suggestive.
Today’s Quick Pick is Apple (AAPL). This is a short term buy or, if you own it, a “get ready to sell.” Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference happens in early May, and the stock usually gets a bounce from new product and technology announcements. This year we’re likely to hear more on AI. Apple’s stock hasn’t performed all that well lately, and I don’t want to hold the stock after the expected pop from the conference and new product releases in the fall. I worry about the long term choices the company is making. Apple has decided not to offer a low-price, affordable introductory iPhone as a gateway to their suite of products. They’ve effectively ceded the lower end of the market to other players–especially in China. They’ve also just announced that the AI add-ons to Siri they promised have been delayed and it’s unclear when they’ll be available. Apple is lagging in AI as other companies race ahead. We can expect disappointing sales in December–particularly out of China. I don’t want to hold on to the stock at the end of the year and I’m looking to sell on a bounce after the conference and new product launches in September.
Apple (AAPL) has confirmed that it’s delaying the release of a new AI Siri digital assistant. The company now expects to roll out the software sometime “in the coming year.” The effort will give Siri “more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for you within and across your apps,” the iPhone maker said in a statement. “It’s going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features.” Apple’s struggles to finish the new AI capability for Siri has been a one secret for the last month or so after Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported on the delay. The Siri AI features were first touted in June 2024 at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference. When Apple announced the features at WWDC, it didn’t provide an arrival date for the Siri upgrade, Gurman reported. Within the company, though, the plan was to include the new technology in iOS 18.4, which comes out in April.
The Invesco QQQ ETF (QQQ), which tracks the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index (NDX), closed below its 50-day moving average on Monday for the first time in just over three weeks. The ETF was down another 0.83% as of 3:30 p.m. New York time on Tuesday.
In the first Trump Administration Apple (AAPL) avoided tariffs on its smartphones and on its Apple Watch made in China. This time around Apple may avoid the administration’s tariffs again, but the cost is a promise to spend $500 billion and hire 20,000 people in the United States over the next four years, and open a factory in Texas to make the machines that power the company’s push into artificial intelligence.
Today’s Hot Money Moves NOW is China Buys More Gold. Gold seems like a good asset to own right now but it’s also trading at record highs. So while gold is safe, especially if inflation goes up, how much higher do you expect gold to go? One thing to look at it is who is emerging as a buyer. Central banks have been buying gold to hedge risks and diversify, which has contributed to the record highs. Recently, the Chinese government announced that 10 big Chinese insurance companies will now be allowed to put up to 1% of their portfolios into gold. This hasn’t been allowed in the past and will provide about $27 billion for new gold buying. This is also just another sign that countries and businesses are looking to hedge risk by buying gold and it’s one of the safer places to be in an uncertain market.