AAPL Surged Today -- Why Was That?

Do you remember this post on July 16, 2021:

Whoo-Hoo! AAPL Is Closer To $150 Than $149 (Again) --July 16, 2021.

It's taken a long time. 

I'm sure this is accurate, but it's hard to believe.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.  

Everyone knew this was going to happen. On top of that, it's an Apple-Alphabet deal that's been going on for years, although the new agreement may be even more advantageous for Apple, Inc. I don't know. But it's hard to believe the reason that Apple popped today was for this reason. 

There's also risk the courts will step in. 

Link to The Motley Fool via Yahoo!Finance. Or here for the full article.

Apple's stock price climbed 3% to a record closing high of $153.12 on Monday, following an intriguing analyst report. Alphabet's  Google could pay Apple roughly $15 billion this year to retain its place as the default search option on iOS, according to Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi. Apple's shares popped on reports of a lucrative new deal with Google.

Sacconaghi posits that the deal with Google will boost Apple's services revenue growth by 8.5 percentage points -- and account for as much as 9% of the iPhone maker's gross profits in fiscal 2021. 

It's not hard to see why Google would be willing to pay such large sums. Despite its efforts to diversify its business, advertising revenue still represents the lion's share of its profits. And while Google remains the dominant search engine in the U.S. and many other areas of the world, the last thing it wants to do is let rival Microsoft outbid it and claw back market share.

As for Apple, there's little to lose and much to gain. Google is clearly the most popular search engine, and the great majority of its users would probably choose Google for their search needs. Apple also lets its users choose among different search providers, such as Microsoft's Bing, if they prefer a different option. So for simply doing something most of its customers would do anyway, Apple reportedly earns billions of dollars of high-margin revenue.

The risk, however, is that regulators will move to block these payments to curb Google's ability to stifle competition. Yet for today, at least, investors appear to be taking a more optimistic view -- and are bidding Apple's shares up in kind.

So, we'll see. 

If / when there is even a slight bit of bad news for Apple, Inc., the stock will fall like a rock. 

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. 

But think about this. Everyone has known for years about the lucrative agreement between Alphabet and Apple. Why the pop today on that news? The Motley Fool is probably correct, but it still doesn't make sense. My hunch: if it has anything to do with this lucrative Apple-Alphabet deal, some high rollers made some phone calls to those with inside knowledge regarding the regulators or have been reading the tea leaves, and are confident the regulators won't stop the deal (for now). 

I don't know. But it's fascinating. It's just hard for me to believe that AAPL popped today on "old news" that was already known by "everyone."

But again, never bet against Motley Fool.