Stocks fell on Tuesday, the first trading day of the week, as weak data out of China and lower global growth estimates from the International Monetary Fund renewed fears of the global economy slowing down.Read More...

U.S.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo voiced optimism on Tuesday for a good outcome in upcoming trade talks with China and said a superpower conflict between the two nations could be avoided. Read More...

Apple just launched three new smart battery cases for its newest iPhones.Read More...

According to Lynx Equity Strategies analysts KC Rajkumar and Jahanara Nissar, Apple is likely to cut back on its secretive, self- driving vehicle program. If the analysts are right, this move could significantly affect growth in an emerging vector outside Apple’s core devices, and may also indicate that stagnating iPhone sales could be responsible for the company’s cost cutting measures. Named as ‘Project Titan,’ the company’s self-driving electric vehicle program started in 2014 with more than 1,000 employees working on the project.The projects viability has been in limbo since, but the August 2018 rehiring of Tesla engineer Doug Fields rekindled speculation that Apple may have been serious about following through. Of concern for investors is the question of whether iPhone revenue concerns are driving the decision, or whether the the viability of the autonomous vehicle market is causing Apple to pull back. 

Apple wanted to use Qualcomm's 4G LTE processors in its newest iPhones, but the chipmaker wouldn't sell to it, Apple's operating chief testified Monday. And that's had a ripple effect on how quickly Apple can make the shift to 5G.READ MORE...

UBS, the world's largest wealth manager, said investors should keep their money in the stock market this year regardless of their risk appetite.Read More...

Companies like Airbnb, Uber, Slack, Pinterest, and others had signaled plans to IPO this year, but those plans may be changing given the uncertain market environment being made potentially worse by the government shutdown. According to Ryan Gilbert, general partner at Propel Venture Partners, the IPO calendar is looking empty for the first quarter and these delays are bound to have a "knock-on effect.Currently, with the exception of emergency and/or law and enforcement situations, most of its other functions are closed. Last year, the highest number of VC-backed companies entered the public markets since 2014.

The Nikkei Asian Review on Wednesday confirmed that Apple is ready to slash its new iPhone production by about 10% over the next three months. According to Nikkei, the tech giant has already intimated its suppliers in December to produce fewer new iPhones than what was initially planned for first quarter of 2019. This would entail a reduction from the overall planned production volume for new and old iPhones to about 40 million to 43 million units for the March quarter — down from an earlier prediction of 47 million to 48 million units. This would be the second time in two months that Apple is trimming its smartphone production.The new revised plan would apply to all new iPhone models — the XS Max, XS and XR. Apple, including its rivals like Samsung, is now finding itself in a highly competitive market where growth is falling.

The South Korean tech giant, Samsung Electronics, on Tuesday announced its Q4 earnings guidance.Samsung expects its consolidated sales for the fourth-quarter to be around 59 trillion won, ~10.57% down from what it was a year ago, compared to analysts’ expectation of 62.8 trillion won. According to the chipmaker, weaker-than-expected demand for memory chips from data center customers resulted in a decline in the number of shipments and a considerable drop in memory chip prices, which in turn impacted profitability.

Apple’s growing ecosystem of devices and services is “probably underappreciated” by naysayers on Wall Street, CEO Tim Cook told CNBC in an interview Tuesday.READ MORE...

Sony Pictures Entertainment and AT&T have put casino game maker, GSN Games, on the bidding block a few months ago and awaiting the first round of results.On the other hand, AT&T sees this as an opportunity to sell off no-core assets to reduce its mountain of debt (close to $170 billion). Producing a range of branded gaming titles, the partners are optimistic that the bid will yield results in the $600-$700 million range. Currently, Sony owns 58% of the company while the remaining 42% is held by AT&T. The sale process underway could lead to Sony buying out AT&T’s stake, or it may also attract new investors to the unit.

Plus, users will be able to transfer/view content like photos and videos from their iPhones and iPads on to the screens of Samsung smart TVs via Apple’s Airplay2. The partnership between the two rival smartphone makers was announced on Sunday, and reveals yet another potential move by Apple to bulk up its services business. Allowing iTunes on Samsung TVs potentially lets Apple widen its reach among consumers. Earlier instances of Apple tying up with competitors include Amazon's Echo devices starting to feature Apple Music, as announced in November.

Now the country's economic slowdown is putting their earnings at risk. Apple (AAPL) on Wednesday said that it expected a weaker Chinese economy to hurt its holiday sales numbers, prompting its stock to plunge up to 8% in after hours trading.CEO Tim Cook said in a letter to investors that the company had been blindsided by "the magnitude of the economic deceleration" there. It isn't the only company that could suffer.

Can Apple rebound from an uneven 2018 in which its shares dropped 7%, or are there more choppy waters ahead?  Since reaching a high of $233.47 on Oct. 3, a mix of trade fears, weak iPhone reports, legal troubles and more have dragged down the once high-flying stock, though it has jumped 7% since Christmas.Here are a few of the biggest issues facing Apple in the coming year.  READ MORE...

But 2018 is shaping up to end with a very different story for Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google's parent, Alphabet.READ MORE...

Apple will begin assembling its top-end iPhones in India through the local unit of Foxconn as early as 2019, the first time the Taiwanese contract manufacturer will have made the product in the country, according to a source familiar with the matter.READ MORE...

Apple’s latest line of iPhones is apparently attracting more consumers to switch from Android, compared to the previous year – according to a Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) report. The report found that 16% of iPhone buyers upgraded from an Android model during the 30-day period following the iPhone XR’s launch.The figure was 11% in case of the iPhone X’s release in November 2017. In the 30 days following its launch in October 2018, the lowest-priced new iPhone model XR contributed 32% of total iPhone sales in the U.S. (as found by CIRP).

Carriers and other third-party retailers in Germany would still be able to sell all iPhone models,  the iPhone maker said. The German court’s ruling is chipmaker Qualcomm’s third major attempt, after allegations it made in China and the U.S.,  at securing a ban on Apple’s iPhones over patent infringement charges.A Chinese court had earlier this month ordered a ban on some iPhone sales, following a similar allegation put forth by  Qualcomm.

Apple is planning to invest $1 billion towards building a new campus in Austin Texas. On Thursday, the iPhone maker announced its plans to have the new facility across 133 acres, where it expects to employ 5,000 people initially and the number could potentially go up to 15,000 given the available capacity.The company already has an existing campus in Austin, where it houses 6,200 employees. Additionally, Apple plans to employ 1,000 people in Seattle, San Diego and Culver City each, and add hundreds of new jobs in its Pittsburgh, New York, Boulder, Boston and Portland, Oregon offices. In January, Apple revealed that it would spend $30 billion in U.S. facilities and create 20,000 jobs in the nation over the next five years.

Over the last decade or so, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) has become one of the biggest bellwether stocks for the overall market and especially for the tech sector.This development is part of the reason investors are nervous about the stock, the tech sector, and the overall market. There could be some good news for the stock from a technical perspective.