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Apple’s blowout earnings marred by tariff fears, a slow AI rollout, and the stock barely moves

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Apple reported blowout earnings on Thursday, beating Wall Street’s predictions with its biggest revenue growth since December 2021. However, the market reaction was muted, with analysts citing concerns over long-term issues including tariffs and AI.

The company reached $94 billion for the quarter ending June 28, driven by strong iPhone demand, surging services revenue, and solid performance across international markets, representing a 10% increase from the same time last year. Earnings per share came in at $1.57, well above the $1.43 analysts had forecast. Net income rose 12%, while gross margin ticked up to 46.5%.

Despite the positive results, the company received a subdued response from investors, with its stock rising just over 2% in after-hours trading. Apple has already been dealing with a rough year, and the company’s stock price has dropped 17% year to date.

“$AAPL shares are up 2% on great news and guidance, underscoring that investors don’t believe it’s sustainable,” Gene Munster, Deepwater Asset Management’s managing partner, said in an X post. Munster said Apple stock had become a “show-me” story as investors worry about “tariffs, regulatory changes, and Apple’s AI strategy come back to weigh on growth.”

Tariffs hit costs

The somewhat muted reaction is likely down to a couple of ongoing sore points for Apple: the AI race and President Trump’s tariffs on China and India.

The tariffs hit the company slightly less than previously estimated, costing Apple around $800 million rather than the $900 million CEO Tim Cook had predicted in March. Cook said that the impact was mainly in connection with Trump’s tariffs against China that hit “early in the year.”

Kate Leaman, chief market analyst at AvaTrade, told Fortune that Apple was clearly nervous about the impact of further tariffs.

“The risks to Apple are real,” she said. “Regulation is coming and tariffs are back in the headlines, with the US still locked in negotiations with China. And for firms like Apple, global politics and supply chains still matter a lot.”

The tariff issue looks set to get worse for the tech giant before it gets better, with expected cost hits rising next quarter.

“For the September quarter, assuming the current global tariff rates, policies, and applications do not change for the balance of the quarter and no new tariffs are added,” Cook said on Thursday’s earnings call. “We estimate the impact to add about $1.1 billion to our costs.”

Wedbush’s Dan Ives called tariffs a “problem for Apple” despite the company continuing to focus on production in India and the fact that the majority of iPhones sold in the US are now being made in the country rather than China, which has faced the most aggressive tariffs from the Trump administration.

“Trade policy remains unsettled and uncertain, and Apple is acutely aware of the importance of remaining on the right side of the administration, lest it face increasing ire and tariff risk,” Forrester’s VP principal analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee said. “It’s no surprise that Tim Cook was very particular in emphasizing several times Apple’s continuing investment in the United States and American innovation.”

Pressure over Apple’s AI roadmap

Apple has faced criticism for years for the company’s apparent failure to capitalize on the AI boom, and the company’s most recent earnings don’t appear to have soothed investors.

“AI is the elephant in the room,” Ives, who has been less than impressed with the company’s AI efforts, said in a note. “While Apple is expanding its AI investments internally, the reality is it’s not moving the needle and patience is wearing thin about investors.”

Apple has taken a few hits to AI efforts recently, losing at least four prominent AI researchers to Meta’s “Superintelligence” team. In a particularly harsh blow to Apple, Meta successfully managed to lure away the leader of the company’s AI division, Ruoming Pang, with a compensation package reportedly valued at more than $200 million. The hits to Apple’s talent haven’t helped the perception that the company is lagging behind competitors in the AI space.

“The AI Revolution is the biggest technology trend in 40 years and right now Apple is watching this from a park bench drinking lemonade while every other Big Tech company is racing ahead like F1 drivers building out its AI strategy and monetization plan,” Ives said. “This continues to be the big problem for Cook as in our opinion, this is a black eye moment for Apple and is the major anchor on the ship.”

Despite Cook confirming Apple was ramping up its internal AI investment, some investors, including Ives, are hoping the company will regain some ground through external partnerships or significant M&A. Cook has already signaled the company was “open to M&A that accelerates [Apple’s] roadmap.”

Chatterjee called the company’s AI urgency “palpable” and observed a “quiet admission of its sluggishness in the acknowledgement that it may have to lean heavily on acquisition to compress timelines.”

Some investors are hoping that Apple will acquire AI darling Perplexity, a fast-growing AI search startup seen as a potential springboard to overhaul Siri and close Apple’s AI gap with rivals like Google and Microsoft.

“Rumors swirl about a Perplexity deal, and if that were to happen, it may greatly accelerate the elusive promise of a more effective Siri,” Chatterjee said.



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New York City is officially getting 3 Las Vegas-style casinos

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The New York Mets’ ballpark in Queens. A Bronx golf course once operated by President Donald Trump ’s company. A slot parlor on a horse racing track near John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The three disparate sites, located far from the tourist hub of Manhattan, will become the future homes of New York City’s first Las Vegas-style resort casinos.

The state Gaming Commission on Monday awarded the three projects licenses to operate in the lucrative metropolitan-area market during a meeting at a riverside park in upper Manhattan.

The panel approved the licenses with the condition that the companies each appoint an outside monitor that would report regularly to the commission to ensure they meet their financial and legal obligations, as well as the promised investments they made to local communities.

Brian O’Dwyer, the commission’s chair, said the state looked forward to the promise of jobs, infrastructure improvements and gaming revenue being realized.

“You all have an important charge ahead of you, and you can be assured that this commission takes our responsibility to keep your feet to the fire with great respect,” he said to the project representatives in attendance.

Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement the projects would pump billions of dollars into the state’s transit and education systems and create tens of thousands of jobs.

But a handful of protesters opposed to billionaire Mets owner Steve Cohen’s Hard Rock plan vowed to continue their fight in court. They and other casino opponents worry the projects will only increase gambling addiction.

“You picked a billionaire over New Yorkers! Shame on you!” the group shouted as they walked out of the meeting.

Cohen and Hard Rock’s proposal calls for an $8.1 billion casino complex on a parking lot next to the Mets’ Citi Field that would include a performance venue, hotel and retail space.

Bally’s has proposed a roughly $4 billion casino at the Ferry Point golf course in the Bronx that would include a hotel, event center, meeting spaces, restaurants and other amenities.

And Resorts World has proposed investing more than $5 billion to expand its slots parlor at Aqueduct Race Track in Queens into a full casino with a hotel, dining and entertainment options.

The projects bested several other proposals that fell by the wayside during the high-stakes competition.

Among them were three casinos proposed for Manhattan that were rejected by local boards, including a Caesars Palace in the heart of Times Square backed by rapper Jay-Z. A plan for a resort on Coney Island’s iconic boardwalk in Brooklyn was also defeated by local opposition, and MGM abruptly pulled out of the once-crowded sweepstakes, despite local support.

The state gaming commission was authorized to license up to three casinos in the New York City area after voters approved a referendum in 2013 opening the door to casino gambling statewide.

Four full casinos, all upstate, now offer table games. The state also runs nine gambling halls without live table games, many of them also miles away from Manhattan.

Monday’s decision, in some ways, was largely a formality. Millions of dollars in gambling revenues are already factored into the state budget.

A state panel charged with vetting the proposals for the commission also recommended awarding a license to all three remaining proposals earlier this month.

The Gaming Facility Location Board, in its written decision, argued that the region’s dense and relatively affluent population, combined with high tourism, would be able to support all three plans, despite their relative proximity to each other.

The panel said its consultants conservatively estimated the casinos would generate a combined $7 billion in gambling tax revenues from 2027 to 2036, plus $1.5 billion in licensing fees and nearly $6 billion in state and local taxes.

Monday’s decision also means Trump could stand to claim a substantial prize. When Bally’s purchased operating rights for the city-owned Ferry Point golf course from the Trump Organization in 2023, it agreed to pony up an additional $115 million if it won a casino license.

Spokespersons for the Trump Organization didn’t respond to an email seeking comment Monday on the expected windfall.



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Cadillac returns as sponsor for PGA tour event at Trump National Doral

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Cadillac is returning as the title sponsor of a lucrative PGA Tour event held at Trump National Doral, which will hold one of the $20 million signature events in 2026.

The Cadillac Championship will be held the first weekend in May on the course once dubbed the “Blue Monster.” Doral first became part of the PGA Tour schedule in 1962, and it was held each year through 2016 until becoming a World Golf Championship under various names.

Brian Rolapp, the CEO of the PGA Tour, referred to Trump National Doral as a “legacy venue on our schedule.”

“We appreciate the support of Cadillac as we bring a new era of the PGA Tour to our fans in Miami,” Rolapp said in a statement.

Cadillac was the title sponsor of the WGC at Trump National Doral from 2011 through 2016. But the automaker chose not to renew its contract, the PGA Tour could not find a replacement sponsor for Doral in 2016 when President Donald Trump was the presumptive Republican nominee and the WGC event was moved to Mexico City.

Doral is among eight courses that has held a regular PGA Tour event for at least 50 years — the others are Riviera, Pebble Beach and Torrey Pines in California; Colonial (Texas), Waialae (Hawaii), Harbour Town (South Caroline) and Muirfield Village (Ohio).

It returned to the golf landscape in 2022 by hosting a LIV Golf event each of the last four years until returning to the PGA Tour schedule for 2026. The tour designated Trump National Doral a signature event before it signed Cadillac as the title sponsor.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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Rob Reiner’s 32-year-old son in jail after fatal stabbing at Los Angeles home

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Rob Reiner’s younger son, Nick Reiner, was in jail Monday after being booked for what investigators believe was the fatal stabbing of the director-actor and his wife at their Los Angeles home a day earlier, authorities said.

It was not immediately clear what charges Nick Reiner, 32, would face. A police statement said he was being held without bail and the case will be presented to the district attorney’s office on Tuesday.

Representatives for the Reiner family did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and it wasn’t immediately clear if Nick Reiner had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

Nick Reiner has spoken publicly of his struggles with addiction. By 18, he had cycled in and out of treatment facilities with bouts of homelessness and relapses in between. Rob and Nick Reiner explored their difficult relationship and Nick Reiner’s struggles with drugs in a semi-autobiographical 2016 film, “ Being Charlie.”

Rob and Michele Singer Reiner were found dead Sunday afternoon at their home in Los Angeles, and investigators believe they were stabbed, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official, who was briefed on the investigation, could not publicly discuss the details and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Nick Reiner was arrested Sunday around 9:15 p.m., police said.

Reiner was long one of the most prolific directors in Hollywood, and his work included some of the most memorable movies of the 1980s and ’90s, including “This is Spinal Tap,” “A Few Good Men,” “When Harry Met Sally” and “The Princess Bride.”

His role as Michael “Meathead” Stivic in Norman Lear’s 1970s TV classic “All in the Family” as a liberal foil to Carroll O’Connor’s Archie Bunker catapulted him to fame and won him two Emmy Awards.

The son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner married photographer Michele Singer Reiner in 1989. The two met while he was directing “When Harry Met Sally.” They had three children together: Nick, Jake and Romy.

Reiner told The New York Times in 1989 that the cinematographer on “When Harry Met Sally,” Barry Sonnenfeld, predicted he would marry her. “I look over and I see this girl, and whoo! I was attracted immediately,” Reiner said.

Michele Singer Reiner was a producer for “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,” “God & Country,” “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life” and “Shock and Awe,” according to IMDB. Earlier in her career, she photographed the cover image of President Donald Trump’s 1987 bestseller “The Art of the Deal.”

Trump on Monday blamed Rob Reiner’s outspoken opposition to the president for the actor-director’s killing, delivering the unsubstantiated claim in a social media post that seemed intent on decrying his opponents even in the face of a tragedy.

Relatives of Lear, the legendary producer who died in 2023, said the Reiners’ deaths left them bereft.

“Norman often referred to Rob as a son, and their close relationship was extraordinary, to us and the world,” a Lear family statement said. “Norman would have wanted to remind us that Rob and Michele spent every breath trying to make this country a better place, and they pursued that through their art, their activism, their philanthropy, and their love for family and friends.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the deaths a devastating loss for the city.

“Rob Reiner’s contributions reverberate throughout American culture and society, and he has improved countless lives through his creative work and advocacy fighting for social and economic justice,” Bass said in a statement. “An acclaimed actor, director, producer, writer, and engaged political activist, he always used his gifts in service of others.”

Reiner was previously married to actor-director Penny Marshall from 1971 to 1981. He adopted her daughter, Tracy Reiner. Carl Reiner died in 2020 at age 98 and Marshall died in 2018.

Killings are rare in the Brentwood neighborhood. The scene is about a mile from the home where O.J. Simpson’s wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman were killed in 1994.

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Balsamo reported from Washington. Associated Press Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed.



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