Investopedia Markets News (all except PF)

Wednesday's rally puts GE Vernova shares up 70% since the start of the year.
Credit: Sheldon Cooper / SOPA Images / LightRocket / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• GE Vernova shares soared to a record high Wednesday after the company posted earnings that topped analysts' estimates and lifted its outlook.
• GE Vernova booked more orders for data center equipment in its Electrification segment in the first quarter than all of last year.

GE Vernova shares are soaring to new highs as the AI boom drives up sales.

Shares of GE Vernova (GEV) were up 12% recently, leaving them on track to close at a record high, after the power equipment maker posted earnings that topped analysts' estimates and lifted its outlook.

GE Vernova posted first-quarter earnings per share of $17.44 on a 16% year-over-year rise in revenue to $9.34 billion, each beating analysts' expectations as orders to power data centers surged. The company said its earnings also benefitted from a $4.5 billion gain tied to completing its acquisition of Prolec GE.

CEO Scott Strazik said in a release that GE Vernova's Electrification segment booked $2.4 billion in orders for equipment to power in data centers in the first quarter—more than it booked in all of last year.

Why This Matters to Investors

Wednesday's strong results and stock gains could bolster expectations of GE Vernova's potential to benefit from growing power demand tied to Big Tech's AI data center buildout.

The company also lifted its full-year outlook. Revenue is now projected to come in between $44.5 billion to $45.5 billion, up from $44 billion to $45 billion previously and above the analyst consensus.

While ratings and price targets are still in flux, analysts are overwhelmingly bullish on GE Vernova. All but one of the 12 analysts with current ratings tracked by Visible Alpha have recommended buying the stock, though it's already outpaced their mean target of $1,036 with its recent gains.

Wednesday's rise leaves GE Vernova shares up 70% since the start of the year. They've more than tripled in value in the last 12 months.

Investors are cheering the addition of a stake in OpenAI by a fund run by Robinhood.
Credit: Beata Zawrzel / NurPhoto via Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• Shares of Robinhood Ventures Fund I climbed 10% Wednesday morning, driving prices above its net asset value.
• Retail investors appeared to cheer the addition of the investment on social media.

The frenzy over artificial intelligence is back. Robinhood's latest announcement shows it.

Today's news that Robinhood's (HOOD) March-launched closed-end fund had secured a $75 million investment in private AI company OpenAI lifted the Robinhood Ventures Fund I (RVI), aimed at giving retail investors access to private companies, rose more than 10% Wednesday morning, driving shares above its last disclosed net asset value of $25.31. The fund also holds shares in private fintech companies including Stripe and Ramp, as well as consumer health company Oura and AI voice generator platform ElevenLabs.

On social media, retail investors were both giddy and hopeful as the prospect of another way to access a much-ballyhooed listing revealed itself. "This might be the best way to get some OpenAI exposure ahead of IPO," an X user posted Wednesday morning. Another said they were hanging onto RVI "with the hope" that the fund would buy shares of Elon Musk's SpaceX—another hotly anticipated IPO—but that it did "add one just as good perhaps" in OpenAI. "Let the fomo begin!", the latter user wrote, referencing "fear of missing out."

WHY IT MATTERS TO YOU

Interest in the AI trade is bubbling over lately, resembling the feverish trading activity around related stocks in the early part of 2025 before valuation concerns set in.

The pop in RVI is yet another illustration of the current investor appetite for the AI trade, which had cooled late last year and early in 2026 but has lately been revitalized. Robinhood's announcement of the stake didn't detail the valuation at which it purchased the stake.

Meanwhile OpenAI, like many other companies lately, appears to be amassing a shareholder base of retail investors even though it isn't publicly traded yet. The company said that it opened up its most recent and record-breaking $122 billion funding round to individual investors, raising over $3 billion from them. The round drove the AI company's valuation to $852 billion.

Robinhood's fund isn't the only one snapping up shares of OpenAI ahead of its anticipated initial public offering. Cathie Wood's ARK Invest added OpenAI to ARK Innovation (ARKK), ARK Blockchain & Fintech Innovation (ARKW), and ARK Next Generation Internet (ARKF) ETFs earlier this month. If investors are impressed by Robinhood's efforts to deliver private market companies to retail investors, those three ARK ETFs also hold a slug of Robinhood stock.

ETFs' general structure makes it relatively easy to move in and out of than closed-end funds like RVI; Per Robinhood Ventures Fund I's prospectus, "no shareholder has the right to require the fund to redeem his, her or its shares" and investors "should consider that they may not have access to the funds they invest in the Fund for an indefinite period of time."

United hasn't seen a drop-off in demand even as it has raised airfares recently.
Credit: Peter Nicholls / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby says demand is strong, particularly for international routes, providing an indication that the economy remains in good shape.
• United has raised airfares to offset the increased cost of jet fuel. Kirby expects that will weigh on demand later in the year.
• The airline reported better-than-expected first-quarter results late Tuesday, but lowered its full-year outlook owing to the higher fuel costs.

The economy is flying high, according to the head of the one of the world's largest airlines.

"I personally think we're a really good real-time indicator of the economy. The economy remains much stronger than I think a lot of people think that I read in some of the financial press," United Airlines (UAL) CEO Scott Kirby said Wednesday in an interview on CNBC. "The economy is good and we see it in bookings every day."

Kirby's comments came a day after United reported first-quarter results that topped Wall Street expectations but lowered its profit outlook for the year as fuel costs have soared since the start of the Iran war in late February. The company now forecasts earnings per share of between $7 and $11 in 2026, down from guidance of $12-$14 issued in January.

Why This Matters

The strong booking numbers for airlines underscore the resilience of the American consumer. Higher airfares are likely to hit demand eventually, which would weigh on the financial performance of airlines.

United needs to raise airfares about 15% to 20% to pass through the fuel costs, Kirby said, adding that "this is probably the new normal for airfares." (Cost-conscious travelers need to watch rising bag fees as well as airfares, Investopedia recently noted.) With the higher fares, United expects that demand to fly will decline in the back half of the year, and that as a result the airline will have to reduce capacity.

"If there's a 15% to 20% increase in fares, that is going to at some point drive less demand," Kirby said. "We frankly haven't seen it in our bookings yet. Bookings are really strong. People are flying around the country and around the globe—international is actually stronger than domestic."

United has already adjusted its schedules for the remainder of the year to deal with the fuel price shock. The company said in its earnings release Tuesday that it expects a "5-point capacity reduction versus its original plan," putting capacity in the third and fourth quarters at flat to up 2% from the year-earlier periods.

United shares closed 5.6% lower on Wednesday as investors digested the weak guidance that accompanied the strong first-quarter results. Still, the stock has gained 37% over the past year.

UPDATE: This article has been updated with recent stock price information.

Many investors are shifting back to AI-related companies, BlackRock says.
Credit: Joan Cros / NurPhoto via Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• BlackRock's iShares in a new report offered the latest viewpoint supporting continued strength for the AI trade, powered by big spending on the part of leading companies and continued earnings growth.
• The asset manager sees the so-called AI trade broadening into emerging markets like South Korea and Taiwan.

What's in this spring? The AI trade, according to BlackRock.

The asset manager in its latest investing outlook recommended buying into the rise of artificial intelligence, opting for shares of large, growth-focused companies. Big tech is seen as one of the most-powerful forces driving earnings growth—and supporting stocks—to start 2026, and investors are returning to the AI trade after concerns about the effects of the war with Iran weighed on stocks in the first quarter. (The Nasdaq Composite, an index that largely tracks big tech companies, touched record levels earlier today.)

"While broad market valuations declined to multi-year lows in March, cheapening was especially pronounced in technology names exposed to the AI theme," according to the report from BlackRock's iShares. "And while prices have grown more attractive, the earnings outlook has improved."

Why This News Matters to Investors

Big U.S. tech companies like those in the Magnificent 7 are seen as the biggest powers behind the AI trade that is supporting stocks and earnings growth. But some advisers see it broadening to other markets, including those in Asia.

The AI trade continues to pull in a greater range of companies—from semiconductor suppliers to firms building datacenters, said Blackrock's Head of iShares Investment Strategy for the Americas Kristy Akullian, one of the report's authors, in an interview with Investopedia. She sees the strategy expanding to emerging markets, such as South Korea and Taiwan, that are “central” to the AI buildout. (These markets may also see greater gains as conflict with Iran fades, given that emerging economies generally struggled more when oil prices spiked, she said.)

The strategy lost steam late last year and in early 2026 amid questions about whether pouring billions into the sector was sustainable, and about when major players would see a return on their investment. Other strategies caught on, including the “HALO” trade, which favors businesses with physical property that are less likely to be disrupted by AI, such as ExxonMobile (XOM) and McDonald’s (MCD).

But BlackRock believes the landscape has shifted back in AI firms’ favor.

“In some ways this kind of feels like a 'back to the future' playlist because it’s a lot of the things that have been working for the last three years,” Akullian said. 

Fresh insights on the state of the AI complex are expected later today through Tesla (TSLA), the first of the Magnificent 7 companies to report its latest financial results. CEO Elon Musk, who is guiding the company through a transition from a carmaking business to one geared more toward AI and robotics, may offer more detail on his spending and other plans. Another big AI spender, Amazon (AMZN), yesterday said it would invest up to $25 billion in Anthropic.

SpaceX is planning to go public later this year.
Credit: Ethan Swope / Bloomberg / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• Elon Musk's SpaceX said it secured the right to buy AI coding startup Cursor for $60 billion, or pay Cursor $10 billion for work together.
• The deal marks another expensive move for SpaceX, as the company prepares to go public later this year.

Elon Musk's SpaceX is making some big moves ahead of its expected market debut this summer.

The company said in an X post Tuesday that it has a deal giving it the right to buy AI coding startup Cursor for $60 billion later this year, or pay Cursor $10 billion for their work together.

SpaceX said that its efforts with Cursor will aim to "create the world’s best coding and knowledge work AI," by combining Cursor's product and engineers with SpaceX's hardware. Cursor said it will use the partnership to "leverage xAI's Colossus infrastructure to dramatically scale up the intelligence of our models."

Why This Matters to Investors

Acquiring Cursor would represent another significant expense for SpaceX, though the move could also help Elon Musk's company grow its AI footprint, as it prepares to go public later this year.

The acquisition isn't going through now because the size of the deal would require SpaceX to refile some of its initial public offering documents to restate its financials, Bloomberg reported, with the $10 billion viewed as a breakup fee if the $60 billion acquisition doesn't go through. SpaceX and Cursor did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication.

Cursor had previously been in talks with investors to raise $2 billion for a valuation over $50 billion, but the fundraising round is no longer being pursued as the compute needs the company was looking to fund will now be filled by SpaceX, according to Bloomberg.

In February, Musk merged SpaceX with xAI, the owner of the Grok chatbot and Musk's social media platform X, formerly Twitter. The combined company has filed confidentially with the Securities and Exchange Commission, putting it on the path to potentially list the shares by July.

News of the day for April 22, 2026

Investors are digesting a flurry of earnings reports while they keep tabs on developments in the Middle East.
Credit: Michael Nagle / Bloomberg / Getty Images

Stock futures are rising after two days of losses as investors respond to the latest developments in the Iran war; President Trump said a ceasefire would be extended indefinitely ahead of a potential second round of peace talks with Iran, while multiple ships in the Strait of Hormuz were attacked this morning; Tesla is due to report quarterly results after the closing bell today; SpaceX has agreed to partner with AI coding startup Cursor and potentially acquire the company for $60 billion; and earnings from Boeing, GE Vernova and AT&T headline another busy morning of corporate results. Here's what you need to know today.

Stock Futures Rise After 2 Days of Losses

Stock futures are pointing to a higher open this morning as investors react to an extended ceasefire in Iran (more on that below). Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 were each up 0.5% recently, while Nasdaq futures added 0.7%. The three major indexes each declined for a second straight day Tuesday amid uncertainty over reports about a potential second round of peace talks between the U.S. and Iran. WTI crude oil futures, the U.S. benchmark, were up 1% at around $90.50 per barrel following reports that Iran has attacked multiple ships in the Strait of Hormuz today. Gold futures were up 1% at $4,770 an ounce, while bitcoin was at $78,300, up from an overnight low of $75,000 and trading at its highest levels in more than two months. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which affects rates on all sorts of loans, ticked lower to 4.28%.

Ceasefire Extended, While Iran Attacks Ships in Strait of Hormuz

President Trump said Tuesday evening that he had agreed to extend the two-week ceasefire that was originally set to end tonight at the request of Pakistani officials, who are mediating talks to end the Iran war. Trump said the ceasefire would be extended until Iran's leaders can submit a proposal for what they would be willing to do to end the war, without giving a specific timeline. The announcement came after reports said Vice President J.D. Vance's planned trip to Pakistan for a second round of talks had been postponed because of a lack of responses from Iranian officials confirming the talks would happen. In the last several hours, Iran's Revolutionary Guard has attacked multiple ships in the Strait of Hormuz, adding another element of uncertainty to the ceasefire.

Tesla Earnings Due After Closing Bell Today

Investors will get their first look at Magnificent Seven earnings today, with Tesls (TSLA) set to release its quarerly results after the closing bell. The electric vehicle maker is expected to report rising revenue and profits as its deliveries rose in the first quarter, though not as much as analysts had hoped. Tesla is at a key point in its transformation, as CEO Elon Musk looks to sell investors on his vision of pivoting away from electric vehicle sales to focus more on driverless robotaxis, humanoid robots and Tesla manufacturing its own semiconductors. Tesla shares were up less than 1% in recent premarket trading.

SpaceX Partners With AI Coding Startup Cursor, With Option to Buy It For $60B

Another one of Musk's companies, SpaceX, has struck a new deal with AI coding startup Cursor. The companies are "working closely together to create the world’s best coding and knowledge work AI" by combining SpaceX's hardware with Cursor's engineers, SpaceX said late Tuesday. The space exploration, social media and AI company said it has secured the right to either pay Cursor $10 billion for their work together sometime later this year, or acquire the company for $60 billion instead. Cursor last raised funding in November at a valuation around $29 billion, per The Wall Street Journal. The deal makes for another significant expense for SpaceX to grow its AI footprint ahead of the company's plans to go public later this year.

Boeing, GE Vernova, AT&T Headline This Morning's Earnings Reports

It's another busy morning or earnings reports, with big names including Boeing (BA), AT&T (T), and GE Vernova (GEV) releasing results. GE Vernova beat analysts' estimates and lifted its full-year outlook, citing strong demand for its power generation equipment for big tech's push to build new data centers. AT&T's numbers also topped expectations, with the company noting that a growing number of its customers are getting more than one service from AT&T. Boeing also beat Wall Street estimates, with higher sales and a smaller loss than analysts had anticipated. GE Vernova shares were up 8% recently, poised to open at a new record high. Boeing shares were up nearly 4%, while AT&T stock fell 1% ahead of the bell.

Intel shares have rallied over 80% since the start of the year.
Credit: Joan Cros / NurPhoto / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• Intel's earnings report is due out after the closing bell Thursday, with traders expecting a big move from the chipmaker's stock after the results.
• Some analysts are expecting the chipmaker to beat consensus estimates, though rising memory costs could squeeze profits.

Intel is set to report earnings after the closing bell today, with the chipmaker's stock seen potentially swinging to its highest level in decades following the results.

Based on current options pricing, traders see Intel (INTC) stock swinging up to 8% in either direction by the end of the week. A move of that magnitude from its recent level could lift shares to $73, their highest level in more than 25 years. The low end of that range would be around $62, giving up some of their recent gains.

Intel stock has been on a tear this year, surging more than 80% after a string of high-profile deals, and as tech stocks rallied broadly recently as investors grew more optimistic about an end to the war in Iran.

Why This Matters to Investors

Thursday's earnings report will give Intel its next chance to show investors how its turnaround plan is progressing.

Analysts at Wedbush said ahead of the results that they see Intel potentially topping consensus estimates, given strong demand signals and some price increases. Bernstein analysts warned, however, that the results could be "messy," with rising memory component prices seen squeezing profits.

Intel is projected to report adjusted earnings of 2 cents per share on a 2% year-over-year decline in first-quarter revenue to $12.39 billion, according to estimates compiled by Visible Alpha.

Amid some concerns that Intel's recent stock gains may have gotten ahead of its fundamentals, many Wall Street analysts, including those at Bernstein and Wedbush, have held back on recommending the stock. Among the eight analysts with current ratings tracked by Visible Alpha, six have neutral ratings on the chipmaker, with just one "buy" rating, and one "sell." Intel has outpaced all but one of their price targets with its recent rise. Their mean target just shy of $51 would represent more than 20% downside from Wednesday's close.

This article has been updated since it was first published to reflect more recent prices and analyst estimates.

Key Takeaways

• At a senate confirmation hearing, Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump's nominee as Fed chair, said he would make major changes to the way the central bank operates including how it communicates with the public and the data it uses to calibrate monetary policy.
• Senators grilled Warsh on whether he would be independent from Trump or follow his demands to sharply lower interest rates.
• Warsh's confirmation process is stalled by a key Republican senator, who has vowed not to advance him unless the Justice Department drops a probe of the current Fed chair.

The Federal Reserve could look very different in a few months, if Kevin Warsh takes his place as chair of the central bank on schedule.

Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump's nominee to replace Jerome Powell as the leader of the Fed, laid out his vision for running the central bank and fended off sharp questions about his independence Tuesday at a confirmation hearing before the Senate's banking committee. The committee is the one serious roadblock to Warsh, a former Fed governor, taking the helm at the central bank after Powell's term expires in May.

The hearing shed light on several important ways the Fed would be run differently with Warsh in charge, with new approaches to managing monetary policy, using economic data, and communicating with the public.

Changes In Store

Warsh said he would run the Fed differently than his predecessors in several key ways. First, he said he would reduce the size of the Fed's balance sheet.

Starting during the Great Recession, the Fed has purchased large amounts of assets including treasuries and mortgage-backed securities as a way to stabilize financial markets and to pursue its dual mandate to keep inflation low and employment high, in a program called "quantitative easing." As of last week, those assets were worth $6.7 trillion and counting.

Warsh, long a critic of quantitative easing, said he would reduce that amount, without giving a target size for the balance sheet. He said QE was less effective as a tool for controlling inflation than the Fed's more traditional lever, setting the fed funds rate, which influences borrowing costs on all kinds of loans.

"If we were to cut rates, then broader number of people will benefit from it, versus quantitative easing, which tends to move through financial assets," Warsh said. "Half of our fellow Americans don't own any financial assets, so they're wondering what's in it for them."

What This Means For The Economy

Warsh's reforms to the Fed could change how economists and financial markets view economic data, including which inflation measures are most influential and how much "forward guidance" the Fed gives about its monetary policy decisions.

Warsh also said he would change the way the Fed uses economic data to inform its decisions, especially how it measures inflation. Currently, the Fed uses core Personal Consumption Expenditures, a consumer price gauge that excludes the volatile prices for food and energy, to judge inflation trends and as a benchmark for whether it is running at the Fed's goal of a 2% annual rate.

At the hearing, Warsh advocated switching to an alternative measure calculated differently, by taking the median of "one billion prices" from public and private data sources and seeing how that moves over time.

"In a market economy, prices change all the time, and I don't want to be confused by that," he said. "I want to know what inflation really is. And I still think there's some work to do."

Warsh also indicated he might give fewer hints to the public about the central bank's future interest rate moves. He criticized the Fed's current policy of offering "forward guidance" about how the central bankers are likely to change the fed funds rate at future meetings. The Fed does this in several ways, including at the Fed chair's customary press conference held after policy meetings, as well as in the quarterly "dot plot" charts showing how high Fed officials expect the fed funds rate to be in the coming year.

"The Fed tells the whole world what their dots are going to be, what their forecasts are going to be," Warsh said in his prepared opening statement. "Well, the Fed's human, then they hold on to those forecasts longer than they should. I think if the Fed were to wait until it gets into a meeting before making a decision, that incremental deliberation can keep the central bank from compounding its errors."

Is Warsh Independent From Trump?

Some of the most heated exchanges during the hearing came when Democratic senators grilled Warsh over whether he would make interest rate decisions for the good of the economy, or to please Trump, who has said he expects the new Fed chair to sharply lower interest rates. Powell's resistance to Trump's demands to lower borrowing costs led to a public and rift between the two leaders, and several senators asked Warsh how he would respond to those demands.

"It's very hard to separate President Trump's obsession with rate cuts, his attacks on the Federal Reserve, on Chairman Powell, particularly, and your nomination," Rhode Island Senator John Reed said.

Warsh said Trump had not asked him to lower interest rates as a condition for being nominated, and said he would make decisions independently.

"Virtually all presidents I've either known or studied—presidents tend to be for cutting rates," Warsh said. "I think the difference is President Trump expresses it quite publicly without surrogates or subterfuge, but presidents want lower rates. But fed independence up to the Fed. Fed leadership has to make a decision about what's the right thing to do.”

Lawmakers focused on the independence of the Fed from the White House because Congress tasked the central bank with the goal of having it make decisions on monetary policy without too much pressure from the president or other politicians. Economists say if the bank were less independent, it would tend to follow presidents' wishes for lower interest rates, boosting the economy in the short run but letting inflation run wild in the long run. Studies have shown countries with less independent central banks tend to have higher inflation and less stable economies.

Why Warsh's Nomination Is In Jeopardy

The Fed's independence is so important to lawmakers that a key Republican senator cited it as the reason for withholding his support, without which Warsh's nomination can't advance. North Carolina Senator Tom Tillis praised Warsh' credentials, but said he couldn't vote for him until the Justice Department dropped its probe of Powell over cost overruns in a renovation project at the Fed's headquarters.

Powell and his allies have criticized the investigation as a pretense for intimidating Powell and other Fed officials and strongarming them into lowering rates in line with Trump's wishes. Tillis did not criticize Trump, but defended Powell and called on the administration to drop the probe or else he would not move Warsh's nomination along.

"Let's get rid of this investigation so I can support your confirmation," Tillis said.

Trump has frequently criticized Powell over interest rate policy as well as the renovation of the Fed's headquarters, which Trump has said is "billions" over budget. As recently as Tuesday morning, Trump said it was important to get to the bottom of why the project had exceeded its initial cost estimates. In an interview on CNBC, Trump spoke at length about the need to investigate the project, and lamented that "beautiful ceilings" and "gorgeous moulding" had been taken down during the remodeling.

"We have to find out why is a job that should have cost $25 million is costing billions and billions of dollars," he said in a phone call to the Squawk Box talk show.

Later, at the hearing, Tillis said the Fed renovation had gone over budget for legitimate reasons, such as inflation and unexpected asbestos remediation.

"There were a variety of reasons why this building went over budget," Tillis said. "As a matter of fact, if we put everybody in prison in federal government that had had a budget go over, we'd have to reserve an area roughly the size of Texas for a penal colony, because of the way government projects work."

Tim Cook will step down as Apple CEO after nearly 15 years this September.
Credit: Tommaso Boddi / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• Apple's market capitalization has climbed from $347 billion to $4 trillion during Tim Cook's time as CEO.
• A $1,000 investment in Apple the day Tim Cook became CEO would be worth about $20,316 today. The same $1,000 in an S&P 500 index fund: about $6,037, without accounting for fees.
• Still, among Magnificent 7 stocks, only Meta and Microsoft turned in smaller gains during the period, and Apple trails Nvidia and Alphabet on the list of most valuable companies by market cap.

When Steve Jobs named Tim Cook as his successor in August 2011, the immediate reaction among investors wasn't positive. The executive known for his work on supply chains was replacing the visionary, a tough act to follow.

Late Monday, Apple (AAPL) announced Cook would step down as CEO on Sept. 1, ending one of the most profitable runs in corporate history. Cook, 65, will stay on as executive chair.

Shareholders have been richly rewarded. Investors who put $1,000 into Apple stock when he started would now have more than $20,000, about 3.4 times what the S&P 500 returned over the same period.

After serving as interim CEO while Jobs was ill, Cook officially became CEO Aug. 24, 2011. Apple was trading at a split-adjusted $13.44 and had a market value of $347 billion. Shares closed Monday at $273.05 with a $4.01 trillion market cap, a 1,932% gain against the S&P 500's 504% return over the same stretch.

However, the stock has lagged recently amid concerns that Apple has fallen behind in the AI race.

Apple shares gained about 11% in 2025, trailing the 16% rise for the S&P 500, and Apple has fallen to No. 3 on the list of most valuable companies by market capitalization, behind Nvidia (NVDA) and Alphabet (GOOGL). Among the major tech companies that comprise the Magnificent 7, only Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta (META) have posted smaller gains than Apple, with each rising roughly 1,600% during the period Cook has been at the helm.

Why This Matters To You

Apple makes up about 6% of the S&P 500 index, meaning most American investors own it whether they realize it or not, through 401(k)s and index funds.

One of the world's most famous investors, Warren Buffett, has been a particular fan of Cook's leadership. After first acquiring a stake in the iPhone maker in 2016, Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate Buffett headed as CEO for six decades, eventually built a position in Apple stock valued at more than $170 billion by 2023. Though Berkshire has gradually sold its Apple stake in recent years, the company remains its single largest holding.

Jobs gave Apple the iPhone, iPod and iPad. Cook added the Apple Watch, AirPods, Apple Pay, the Vision Pro and a services business generating more than $100 billion a year. The supply-chain expertise Wall Street seemed to dismiss turned out to be what Apple needed to navigate the pandemic, inflation and President Trump's tariffs.

Revenue quadrupled from $108 billion in 2011 to $416 billion in 2025. iPhone sales alone jumped from $47 billion to $210 billion. The bigger story may be what Cook built around Jobs' signature product: a services business—the App Store, iCloud, Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Pay and advertising—that generated $109 billion in fiscal 2025.

But Cook didn't move away from hardware. The iPhone made up 43% of Apple's sales when Cook took over; today, it accounts for just over half.

New CEO John Ternus will inherit a cash machine, even as investors wonder whether Apple can deliver exciting new products and address the concerns that Apple is trailing Big Tech peers on the AI front.

The back-and-forth over prediction markets regulation continued Tuesday.
Credit: Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Coinbase and Gemini, alleging their prediction market platforms were "illegal gambling platforms."
• Shares of Coinbase were down more than 7% on Tuesday while Gemini's were down more than 3%.

Some crypto firms' shares fell after the companies found themselves in the government's crosshairs, intensifying the legal argument about whether prediction markets amount to gambling platforms.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday filed lawsuits against crypto exchanges Coinbase Global (COIN) and Gemini (GEMI) in the state's Supreme Court. The suits, which echo other state-level efforts elsewhere in the U.S., allege that the companies are "illegally" running gambling operations in the state through their respective prediction market platforms, which offer event contracts on everything from sports to mid-term elections.

Shares of Coinbase and Gemini finished the day down more than 7% and 3%, respectively. Robinhood (HOOD), which was not named in the lawsuit but also operates prediction markets, fell more than 5%.

WHY THIS MATTERS TO YOU

The battle between states and prediction market operators continues to heat up, putting state officials at odds with federal regulators.

The prediction markets run by Coinbase and Gemini "are just illegal gambling operations, exposing young people to addictive platforms that lack the necessary guardrails," James said in a statement. She's seeking court orders to require both companies to pay fines, forfeit profits, and give customers restitution.

Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal on social media wrote that "prediction markets are federally regulated national exchanges, registered with the CFTC," and that "Coinbase will continue to fight for the federal oversight of these markets." Gemini did not respond to Investopedia's request for comment in time for publication.

CFTC Chair Mike Selig has said that licensed prediction markets fall under the federal agency's authority. New York's lawsuits against Coinbase and Gemini follow the agency's own early April suit against three states—Arizona, Connecticut, and Illinois—alleging that they were attempting to "outlaw, regulate, or otherwise restrain" prediction market exchanges "that facilitate trading in lawful event contracts" by imposing "inconsistent and contrary obligations on market participants."

Prediction market operators Polymarket and Kalshi, the latter which powers Coinbase's prediction markets, were not named in the New York lawsuit. Kalshi in October sued the New York State Gaming Commission, shortly after the regulator sent the prediction market operator a cease-and-desist letter alleging that offering event contracts based on sporting events within the state without a sports gaming license violated the law.