Play it again, Tim Cook.
Apple AAPL, +2.53% just might pull yet another rabbit from the hat at its big iPhone launch event today. The company’s shares are in the green in premarket action, helping stock-index futures edge higher.
It’s hard not to get swept up in the excitement that only Apple can generate, with potentially three new iPhone X models headed our way. It’s looking like a case of the bigger and the pricier the better.
Read more: Apple iPhone event — the biggest mystery is the price
“Apple has realized that the way to continue driving earnings growth as iPhone sales plateau is to squeeze bigger margins from their sales with higher prices,” writes Neil Wilson, chief market analyst for Markets.com.
“It’s working and the earnings are flowing despite concerns that iPhone sales growth has peaked.”
With that in mind, it’s time for a refresher course on how Apple has behaved after past iPhone launches. That history is shown below in our chart of the day, which has been making the rounds.
The chart reveals how Apple’s stock typically has performed 60 days after a launch. The reaction has been largely positive, barring down moves in 2008, 2012 and 2016.
Last year’s iPhone 8/8 Plus and X models delivered a 9% gain for shares in the following two months, though the 7 appears to have jazzed investors a bit less.
Don’t miss: Apple’s event will be about more than just the iPhone
Just saying, if your one of the 9.8 billion shorts on the track, better watch out, the $AAPL iPhone Xr freight trains a come’n. If anything they’ve proven folks got zero issue paying 1000s for a phone & nows there’s 3 of them!
— Phisher (@phisher12) September 12, 2018 Key market gauges
Futures for the Dow YMU8, -0.04% , S&P 500 ESU8, -0.03% and Nasdaq-100 NQU8, +0.07% are up slightly, after the Dow DJIA, +0.44% , S&P SPX, +0.37% and Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.61% finished in the black yesterday.
Europe SXXP, +0.11% is mostly higher, after Asia extended its pullback. Oil CLV8, +0.79% is gaining, while the dollar index DXY, +0.15% and gold GCZ8, -0.23% dip.
See the Market Snapshot column for the latest action.
The call
Getty
Time to drop it like it’s hot?
The pain for cryptocurrency investors has been real lately — just talk to that guy who lost nearly all of his savings.
Bitcoin BTCUSD, -0.51% is fighting to hold the $6,000 line after nearing $20,000 in December. The picture is looking even grimmer for Ether, which is taking another hit this morning.
Enter our call of the day from crypto investor Howard Lindzon. The StockTwits co-founder has been watching the carnage, and he’s got an idea on the big factor that might decide whether the selloff for virtual currencies gets uglier or not.
“The crypto world will need more participants to resume any uptrend and stop the carnage. Plain and simple,” he says in a blog post.
Lindzon says he’s relieved he was cashing in on some crypto gains into the end-of-2017 mania, but admits “any exposure is bad exposure right now.”
“I am sitting tight and talking to the people that got me interested in crypto in the first place, and when they give up, I will give up,” he adds.
The quote
NOAA
“If you live on the NC/SC coast, tomorrow is your last chance to leave. Go. Please. Guys, please, do not mess with this storm.” —That was meteorologist Eric Holthaus pleading with residents in the firing line of Hurricane Florence to clear out before the onset of what the Weather Channel has referred to as the “storm of a lifetime.”
Storm surges of 9 to 13 feet for a chunk of the coast have been predicted.
Read: Hurricane Florence remains on target, forcing evacuations
And see: Restaurant companies at risk as Hurricane Florence bears down
The buzz
The T-Mobile TMUS, +0.53% and Sprint S, +0.50% merger may have hit a hiccup as the FCC says it needs more time to review it.
Activist investor Marathon Partners is demanding a makeover for cosmetics company e.l.f Beauty ELF, +0.30% .
Producer prices are due to hit ahead of the open, and speeches from St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and Fed Gov. Lael Brainard are also on tap, along with the Fed’s beige book.
Check out: MarketWatch’s Economic Calendar
WellCare WCG, +0.52% is joining the S&P 500, replacing XL Group XL, +1.04% , which is being acquired.
Random reads
So 2017 sucked for you? Join the crowd.
Majoring in zoology can bring in big bucks.
Voting matters:
This is what happens when people don’t vote. Tragedy. https://t.co/FLhrWwonsr
— Wu-Tang Financial (@Wu_Tang_Finance) September 11, 2018
On the hunt for a POTUS photoshopper:
WHO DID THIS? pic.twitter.com/uOhKiXLUu9
— Downtown Josh Brown (@ReformedBroker) September 12, 2018
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