Locator: 49154ARCHIVES.
Data points this past week that really caught my attention:
- the strong performance of US equity markets in August / September, considering these two months are historically tough months for mom-and-pop retail investors;
- Apple's global laptop sales in the 2Q25;
- the staggering production in the Permian relative to the rest of the nation;
- what appears to be an incredible Apple iPhone 17 launch;
- the continued misreading of the Intel story;
- the strength of the fourth (sixth) industrial revolution;
- the Fed is cutting despite a strong market;
- despite all the trash talk from the White House, JPow is looking pretty good;
- most important: he is independent of the White House and he's very, very trustworthy and credible.
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The Apple iPhone 17 Launch
Apparently "lines-around-the-block" phenomenon is incredible, completely unexpected.
Will analysts start talking about a "supercycle"?
Are folks concerned that next year's "foldable" phone is not something they want?
Are folks amazed by the camera upgrade, particularly video, and have noted that prices were either unchanged, or increased marginally ($100 over three years use of the phone = $2.75 / month increase) since they bought their last phones, two to five years ago?
Or more importantly, did that jump from 128 to 256 GB get their attention?
Are folks telling "us," they don't need a "revolution." Are they telling "us" they like the better camera (video, particularly) and the 256 GB memory, a doubling in memory more than AI?
Folks are certainly telling “us" that the AI issue is an "invented" issue by analysts and Apple's competitors. Apple buyers don’t care.
Remember:
- Apple's eco-system;
- Apple's 2.3 billion devices worldwide in use;
Can any one competitor compete on those two points?
Ticker:
- note:
- P/E at 37
- market cap: $3.65 trillion
