German AI researcher and hedge fund manager Leopold Aschenbrenner became the poster child for the hubris of an AI-obsessed Wall Street last month.

Some $35 billion of investors’ money, in the form of leveraged bets on AI infrastructure stocks, evaporated in front of the 24-year-old’s eyes as tech shares were hit by yet another major sell off.

The humbling couldn’t have come at a worse time. The funds vanished days before his wedding with Anthropic chief of staff Avital Balwit. According to the New Yorker, the two had to cancel their honeymoon as a result.

Aschenbrenner isn’t alone. According to new data from Hedge Fund Research, tech funds dropped by seven percent in July, the worst period for the investments since the depths of the 2008 global financial crisis, the Telegraph reports.

A separate hedge fund, called value Aligned Research Advisors, which shares a similar portfolio to Aschenbrenner’s, similarly slid 44 percent in July as tech stocks reeled from major volatility.

The bruising month has further compounded fears over a massive surge in AI spending with no clear path to profitability in sight. Investors have become wary of big tech companies’ ever-higher capital expenditure forecasts as concerns over an AI bubble continue to mount.

Staying on track and maintaining high profit margins has become a high risk high reward game.

“When valuations are elevated, and positioning is concentrated, the difference between being on the right and wrong side of a trade can become unusually large — and very quickly,” Erlen Capital Management managing partner Bruno Schneller told the Telegraph. “Specialist technology strategies can generate exceptional returns when momentum and narrative are aligned, but they can also experience abrupt, leverage-amplified reversals when those conditions change.”

The game is far from over. Even Aschenbrenner’s fund has since recovered and his making new investments after being forced to unwind trades and sell major chunks of its holdings last month.

Yet how much longer the highly AI-leveraged stock market can sustain itself is anybody’s guess. In a blog post on Friday, Apollo chief economist Torsten Slok pointed out that those who reap the biggest profits, including companies making AI models, are massively depending on profits being “funded by investors rather than earned from customers.”

Put simply, AI companies aren’t making any significant amount of money from providing a worthwhile product, but from “capital raised by the layer losing money,” per Slok.

“Capital can bridge the gap for a while, but not indefinitely,” Slok argued. “And therein lies the risk: will the ROI show up for AI’s end customers fast enough to sustain the spending that is generating those upstream margins?”

More on AI: VC-Funded Startups Linked to Persistent Fraud

The post AI Investors Are Suddenly Quaking in Their Boots appeared first on Futurism.

After years of facilitating a surge in gambling addiction by allowing users to make dubious bets on anything from the outcome of the World Cup to deadly conflict, trading platform Kalshi is finally facing a serious regulatory challenge.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James announced that the state is suing the company for running an illegal gambling operation. An investigation by state authorities concluded that Kalshi was running an “illegal, unlicensed gambling operation” in the state.

Officials also pointed out that Kalshi was offering its services to “those under the legal gambling age of 21,” putting them at “serious personal and financial risk.” In New York, a person has to be at least 21 to participate in mobile sports betting.

The lawsuit is seeking to shut down Kalshi in New York and is requiring it to pay a $100,000 penalty for each attempt to offer sports betting and fees three times its gains in the state, which could saddles the company with paying an estimated $36 billion.

“Kalshi has chosen to ignore New York’s gaming laws, which exist to protect consumers, prevent problematic gambling, deliver funding for critical public services, and ensure that every company plays by the same rules,” said Hochul in a statement.

The news comes as state regulators continue to ponder what rules to set for prediction markets, which have seen a massive surge in popularity over the past year or so. On the federal level, the Trump administration appears unlikely to jump into action, especially considering the president’s close personal ties to the prediction markets industry. His son, Donald Trump Jr, serves as an advisor to both Polymarket and Kalshi.

Kalshi and Polymarket continue to bristle at being associated with the gambling industry and argue they’re effectively a predictions-based stock exchange. Unlike Polymarket, Kalshi is regulated by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

However, some officials vehemently disagree with that assessment.

“No matter what they call themselves, prediction markets like Kalshi are gambling platforms, plain and simple,” said James. “By ignoring our laws, Kalshi is running an illegal operation and harming New Yorkers in the process.”

Researchers continue to warn that gambling addicts are betting their entire incomes away on prediction markets, a growing crisis perfectly dovetailing a massive surge in sports betting in the United States following a 2018 Supreme Court decision.

Worse yet, rampant insider trading and other differentials in information means that the vast majority of users on Kalshi and Polymarket are being left holding the bag while a select few are getting away with big winnings.

The brashness of certain crimes linked to the markets is hard to fathom. Earlier this month, president Donald Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator was accused of making tens of thousands of dollars by placing bets on Kalshi about what the president would say, leading to his removal.

In short, the latest lawsuit shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody who’s been following along.

Predictably, Kalshi has since shot back, accusing the government of making it all up.

“It’s sad to see this type of political theater from the leadership in our own state,” a spokesperson told CNBC in a statement. “States can’t just shut down a federally licensed exchange… We love New York, we love New Yorkers, and New Yorkers love our product.”

More on prediction markets: OpenAI Strikes Bold Deal With Kalshi to Mix Together the Most Hated Technologies in Existence: AI and Prediction Markets

The post Kalshi Sued for Running Illegal Gambling Operation appeared first on Futurism.

In Nasdaq trading today, shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) rose $3.17 to $340.08 to hit a new all-time closing high. Apple’s all-time intraday high was also set today at $342.89.

Apple’s 52-week low stands at $201.50.

Today’s trading volume for AAPL shares was 50,765,695 versus Apple’s average trading volume of 55,539,493 shares.

Apple’s PE Ratio currently stands at 41.22.

Apple currently has a market value of $4.995 trillion, making it the world’s most valuable company.

The top five U.S. publicly-traded companies, based on market value:

1. Apple (AAPL) – $4.995T
2. NVIDIA (NVDA) – $4.772TT
3. Alphabet (GOOGL) – $4.081T
4. Microsoft (MSFT) – $2.922T
5. Amazon (AMZN) – $2.483T

Selected companies’ current market values:

• SpaceX (SPCX): $1.534T
• Meta Platforms (META): $1.506T
• Tesla (TSLA): $1.214T
• Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A): $1.100T
• Walmart (WMT): $900.059B
• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): $741.304B
• Intel (INTC): $435.297B
• Cisco (CSCO): $455.551B
• Netflix (NFLX): $301.428B
• Dell (DELL): $253.594B
• IBM (IBM): $214.326B
• SoftBank (SFTBF): $176.724B
• Disney (DIS): $171.741B
• Sony (SONY): $130.897B
• Spotify (SPOT): $104.260B
• Adobe (ADBE): $99.025B
• Nokia (NOK): $49.992B
• Hewlett-Packard (HPQ): $25.858B
• SiriusXM (SIRI): $10.562B
• BlackBerry (BB): $4.721B
• Sonos (SONO): $2.001B
• Liquidmetal (LQMT): $0.249B
• RealNetworks (RNWK) was delisted from U.S. exchanges on December 21, 2022 and is no longer publicly traded.

Apple all-time high (AAPL) via NASDAQ here.

MacDailyNews Take: To the moon, Alice. To the moon!

On April 20, when Apple announced Tim Cook would be kicked upstairs to be replaced by product guy John Ternus as CEO, AAPL closed at $273.05 after being range-bound all year. Since that announcement, AAPL has surged as high as today’s $342.89. That 25.58% leap in under 90 days highlights just how favorably Apple investors view John Ternus.

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In Nasdaq trading today, shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) rose $3.89 to $336.91 to hit a new all-time closing high. Apple’s all-time intraday high was also set today at $339.57.

Apple’s 52-week low stands at $201.50.

Today’s trading volume for AAPL shares was 45,246,885 versus Apple’s average trading volume of 55,382,396 shares.

Apple’s PE Ratio currently stands at 40.79.

Apple currently has a market value of $4.948 trillion, making it the world’s most valuable company.

The top five U.S. publicly-traded companies, based on market value:

1. Apple (AAPL) – $4.948T
2. NVIDIA (NVDA) – $4.760T
3. Alphabet (GOOGL) – $3.994T
4. Microsoft (MSFT) – $2.890T
5. Amazon (AMZN) – $2.489T

Selected companies’ current market values:

• Taiwan Semi (TSM): $2.070T
• Tesla (TSLA): $1.221T
• SpaceX (SPCX): $1.495T
• Meta Platforms (META): $1.507T
• Walmart (WMT): $889.236B
• Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A): $1.069T
• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): $807.066B
• Intel (INTC): $462.383B
• Cisco (CSCO): $451.570B
• Netflix (NFLX): $293.141B
• SoftBank (SFTBF): $181.397B
• IBM (IBM): $203.765B
• Disney (DIS): $167.816B
• Dell (DELL): $275.606B
• Sony (SONY): $130.897B
• Adobe (ADBE): $94.506B
• Spotify (SPOT): $101.724B
• Nokia (NOK): $51.750B
• Hewlett-Packard (HPQ): $24.281B
• SiriusXM (SIRI): $10.031B
• BlackBerry (BB): $5.005B
• Sonos (SONO): $1.866B
• Liquidmetal (LQMT): $0.248B
• RealNetworks (RNWK) was delisted from U.S. exchanges on December 21, 2022 and is no longer publicly traded.

Apple all-time high (AAPL) via NASDAQ here.

MacDailyNews Take: The natural order has been restored, thanks to growing optimism over incoming CEO John Ternus*. Onward and upward, Cupertino soldiers!

*On April 20, when Apple announced Tim Cook would be kicked upstairs to be replaced by product guy John Ternus as CEO, AAPL closed at $273.05 after being range-bound all year. Since that announcement, AAPL has surged as high as today’s $339.57. That ~24% leap in under 90 days highlights just how favorably Apple investors view John Ternus.

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The post Apple again the World’s Most Valuable Company as shares hit new all-time closing and intraday highs appeared first on MacDailyNews.

The tech overlords pushing the AI boom are quickly wearing out what little welcome they had.

You may have noticed big-name AI labs pushing new commercials lately. Meta’s new 60-second ad spot insists that the “future is for everyone,” even as CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s personal net worth eclipses the GDP of Hungary. Anthropic’s new commercial for Claude assures viewers that there’s “hope in hard questions,” seemingly embracing the discomfort that comes when your software is used to bomb elementary schools in Iran.

For as magnanimous as these new PR stunts appear on the surface, a vast swathe of the public they’re meant to sway are rejecting the industry’s faux-populism messaging out of hand, as the cost of AI — born out in inflation, data center pollution, fears of job loss and mental health concerns — becomes too much to bear.

According to data compiled by Pew Research, 40 percent of US adults predict AI will have a negative impact on society writ large, compared to just 16 percent who say it’ll have a positive effect. A whole 31 percent of those surveyed think AI will have negative consequences for themselves, personally, over the next 20 years.

As disgust with AI itself grows, so too does resistance to the hardware embodying its rise.

Per a separate poll by Gallup, flagged by Business Insider, an astonishing three-quarters of US adults are now resolutely opposed to hyperscale data centers popping up near their home. City councils are increasingly forced to reconcile with landowners hostile to any AI data center appearing in their district, putting significant strain on developers hoping to gorge themselves on the fruits of the AI boom. Protests against AI companies are flaring up across the country, with Time reporting 142 protests across 42 states in one day alone.

Beyond data centers, a decentralized but highly-motivated movement is growing around the chopping, hacking, and outright sabotage of AI-integrated surveillance cameras. A parallel struggle is being waged around AI-integrated surveillance drones, with organizers in cities like Minneapolis beating back ambitious police dragnets.

So if you’re a tech executive trying to win back the masses to the AI revolution, take note: it’s gonna take a lot more than a few smarmy commercials to solve your PR problem.

More on AI: Google’s Profits Look a Little Terrifying Under the Hood

The post The AI Industry Has Acted So Badly That It’s Now Dealing With a Huge Wave of Hatred appeared first on Futurism.

Another glowing red indicator just lit up on the control panel steering the US economy: short sellers have placed a nearly unprecedented magnitude of bets against the domestic stock market.

A new analysis by the firm S3 Partners has found that short interest in the S&P 500 is now the highest it’s been since the company began compiling that data in 2010, Business Insider reports. In all, S3 found that roughly 3.7 percent of the S&P’s free float — meaning the total market value of shares available to the public for trading — is now tied up in short interest.

That’s a significant number, almost double the short interest in the S&P at the same time last year. For context, BI notes that roughly 3.8 percent of the S&P was hedged against itself right before the 2008 financial crisis, adding to a growing number of data points suggesting the economy is due for a major reckoning.

Stripping it down to plain English, this is a glaring indication that institutional investors are trying to get ahead of the AI financial bubble, which accounts for roughly 60 percent of the index’s growth since April. And the fact that a growing number of investors aren’t just exiting positions, but are actively betting against the US stock market is a massive tell.

For years, a few brave economists and financial analysts have pointed to the fact that the amount of money being spent on AI continues to rise as evidence that the AI bubble is unsustainable.

The thing is, investors are fine with rising costs if there’s enough revenue coming in to justify the spending, which for AI development has already eclipsed $1.6 trillion as of 2026. But whether we’re looking at data centers, digital ad revenue, or the cost of inference, the kind of revenue growth needed simply isn’t there, as the leading tech companies play an increasingly expensive game of kick-the-can-down-the-road.

This is the situation that has investors — and plenty of regular people — nervous about the AI financial bubble. A perfect example can be found in Google’s parent company Alphabet, which reported its first quarter of negative free cash flow this week. The company likewise raised its capital expenditure expectations by a cool $5 to $25 billion, CNBC reported, sending investors running for the hills as the long-promised AI revolution remains a world away.

More on the AI bubble: SoftBank CEO Says You’re Too Stupid to Understand What’s Going on If You Believe the AI Bubble Is Real

The post Investors Laying Groundwork to Profit Massively When Economy Collapses appeared first on Futurism.

As shares of Elon Musk’s SpaceX continue to dip, short sellers betting against the company are making an absolute fortune.

As Reuters reported last week, short sellers had already made a whopping $8.7 billion in profit — and that was when the company’s stock was trading around $135. Since then, shares have cratered, dipping all the way down to an all-time low of $118 by Wednesday.

As a result, even more short sellers are throwing themselves at the chance to bet against the company, as CNBC reports. According to estimates from financial software company S3 Partners, around 206 million shares are being shorted, just under a third of all publicly tradable shares. That’s up from around 185 million just last week and only 40 million shares one month ago.

“We continue to see short sellers adding exposure ahead of several key upcoming catalysts, including the company’s first earnings report as a public company and subsequent lock-up expirations,” S3 head of research Matthew Unterman told CNBC.

Musk, who has an extensive track record of raging against Tesla short sellers, is clearly letting the issue get under his skin.

“The survival probability of firms who maintain a significant short position in SpaceX over time is very low,” he tweeted.

The almost-trillionaire also rehashed his belief that “SpaceX will be worth more than Earth if we achieve our goals,” stating without evidence that his extremely far-fetched prediction was “obviously true.”

But before it has any chance to take over the entire world, SpaceX has a lot to prove. The company confirmed this week that it will release its first quarterly earnings report on August 4, a major litmus test of where the company’s headed.

Chances are it won’t be pretty. SpaceX’s market capitalization of over $1.6 trillion — making it one of the most valuable companies in the world — has little to no bearing on its current business fundamentals. The company lost almost $5 billion last year. Musk’s xAI, which was folded into SpaceX earlier this year and renamed to SpaceXAI, similarly lost $6.4 billion.

To regain ground lost ground, Musk will have to convince investors of his lofty and untested goals of sending data centers into space and settling on the Moon with the help of SpaceX’s behemoth Starship spacecraft.

Those claims will be put to the test Thursday, when the company has scheduled another test of the mammoth rocket — and regardless of the outcome, we’re likely to see substantial stock movement in its wake.

More on SpaceX: Short Sellers Are Having a Field Day Betting Against SpaceX as Shares Continue to Slip

The post Short Sellers Are Going Hog Wild Against SpaceX as Its Stock Craters appeared first on Futurism.

For years, AI companies have been selling investors on the idea that scaling up operations is the key to success — the bigger the AI model, the more powerful it becomes.

But in practice, that premise is leading to enormous business problems. As The Atlantic points out, LLMs are suffering from severely diminishing returns: the cost of inference, or the act of using a trained AI model to process new data, is rising exponentially, making the tech far less lucrative than it was even half a year ago.

Put simply, it’s effectively the opposite of what investors would conventionally want to see, as The Atlantic argues, which would be a continuous drop in cost per user instead of the reverse.

That’s bad news for an industry pouring billions of dollars into the construction of enormous data centers across the country, despite having no clear path to profitability in the foreseeable future. While it’s impossible to predict when exactly fears of an AI bubble will hit a breaking point, analysts warn it’s a matter of when, not if. The consequences could be disastrous if the industry were to collapse in on itself, bringing down entire economies — which have vastly over-indexed on AI tech — with it.

Nonetheless, AI companies are steadfast in their belief that chatbots, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude, are the future. They’ve become practically inescapable in our day-to-day lives, from integrations in operating systems to replacing humans on customer service calls — despite a major public backlash that represents another headwind for the industry.

Meeting AI’s rapidly growing demands will also require revolutionary leaps in hardware tech that are becoming increasingly harder to come by, with experts warning of the imminent end of Moore’s Law, the decades-old truism that more transistors steadily improved computing power.

In short, as behemoth AI models are quickly becoming unaffordable to those who’ve grown to rely on them, they’re also becoming far less efficient — a concerning trajectory that could nudge the entire economy closer to the brink.

For a while now, Yann LeCun, one of the so-called godfathers of AI, has been warning that LLMs are a “dead end” and won’t bring us to the much-touted point where AI intelligence matches or exceeds that of human intelligence.

But whether tech leaders who are already deeply invested in scaling up the current crop of AI models will heed those warnings feels increasingly unlikely.

More on AI: AI Bubble Fears Are Starting to Spill Over

The post There’s a Gigantic Problem at the Heart of the AI Industry That Could Cause the Whole Thing to Collapse appeared first on Futurism.

In Nasdaq trading today, shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) rose $0.48 to $333.74 to hit a new all-time closing high. Apple’s all-time intraday high was also set today at $334.98.

Apple’s 52-week low stands at $201.50.

Today’s trading volume for AAPL shares was 63,196,563 versus Apple’s average trading volume of 54,686,906 shares.

Apple’s PE Ratio currently stands at 40.40.

Apple currently has a market value of $4.902 trillion, making it the world’s second-most valuable company.

The top five U.S. publicly-traded companies, based on market value:

1. NVIDIA (NVDA) – $4.912T
2. Apple (AAPL) – $4.902T
3. Alphabet (GOOGL) – $4.231T
4. Microsoft (MSFT) – $2.925T
5. Amazon (AMZN) – $2.659T

Selected companies’ current market values:

• Taiwan Semi (TSM): $2.252T
• Tesla (TSLA): $1.488T
• Meta Platforms (META): $1.695T
• Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A): $1.087T
• Walmart (WMT): $906.425B
• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): $909.696B
• Intel (INTC): $552.056B
• Cisco (CSCO): $473.938B
• Netflix (NFLX): $310.883B
• SoftBank (SFTBF): $220.206B
• IBM (IBM): $275.786B
• Dell (DELL): $254.787B
• Disney (DIS): $166.045B
• Sony (SONY): $122.428B
• Adobe (ADBE): $90.177B
• Spotify (SPOT): $98.65B
• Nokia (NOK): $69.447B
• Hewlett-Packard (HPQ): $20.961B
• SiriusXM (SIRI): $9.937B
• BlackBerry (BB): $6.06B
• Sonos (SONO): $1.727B
• Liquidmetal (LQMT): $0.181B
• RealNetworks (RNWK) was delisted from U.S. exchanges on December 21, 2022 and is no longer publicly traded.

Apple all-time high (AAPL) via NASDAQ here.

MacDailyNews Take: To the moon, Alice. To the moon!

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In Nasdaq trading today, shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) rose $5.76 to $333.26 to hit a new all-time closing high. Apple’s all-time intraday high was also set today at $334.68.

Apple’s 52-week low stands at $201.50.

Today’s trading volume for AAPL shares was 59,624,981 versus Apple’s average trading volume of 54,664,537 shares.

Apple’s PE Ratio currently stands at 40.40.

Apple currently has a market value of $4.895 trillion, making it the world’s second-most valuable company.

The top five U.S. publicly-traded companies, based on market value:

1. NVIDIA (NVDA) – $5.023TT
2. Apple (AAPL) – $4.895T
3. Alphabet (GOOGL) – $4.325T
4. Microsoft (MSFT) – $2.980T
5. Amazon (AMZN) – $2.688T

Selected companies’ current market values:

• Taiwan Semi (TSM): $2.109T
• Meta Platforms (META): $1.683T
• Tesla (TSLA): $1.469T
• Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A): $1.055T
• Walmart (WMT): $913.508B
• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): $816.833B
• Dell (DELL): $253.543B
• Intel (INTC): $487.421B
• Cisco (CSCO): $431.883B
• Netflix (NFLX): $313.073B
• SoftBank (SFTBF): $223.341B
• IBM (IBM): $206.051B
• Disney (DIS): $173.009B
• Sony (SONY): $124.819B
• Spotify (SPOT): $98.404B
• Adobe (ADBE): $93.544B
• Nokia (NOK): $57.897B
• Hewlett-Packard (HPQ): $22.077B
• SiriusXM (SIRI): $10.54B
• BlackBerry (BB): $5.357B
• Sonos (SONO): $1.679B
• Liquidmetal (LQMT): $0.135B
• RealNetworks (RNWK) was delisted from U.S. exchanges on December 21, 2022 and is no longer publicly traded.

Apple all-time high (AAPL) via NASDAQ here.

MacDailyNews Take: Onward amd upward, Cupertino soldiers!

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The post Apple shares hit new all-time closing and intraday highs appeared first on MacDailyNews.

In Nasdaq trading today, shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) rose $12.64 to $327.50 to hit a new all-time closing high. Apple’s all-time intraday high was also set today at $328.72.

Apple’s 52-week low stands at $201.50.

Today’s trading volume for AAPL shares was 58,741,821 versus Apple’s average trading volume of 54,375,570 shares.

Apple’s PE Ratio currently stands at 39.70.

Apple currently has a market value of $4.810 trillion, making it the world’s second-most valuable company.

The top five U.S. publicly-traded companies, based on market value:

1. NVIDIA (NVDA) – $5.147T
2. Apple (AAPL) – $4.810T
3. Alphabet (GOOGL) – $4.526T
4. Microsoft (MSFT) – $2.939T
5. Amazon (AMZN) – $2.743T

Selected companies’ current market values:

• Taiwan Semi (TSM): $2.195T
• Meta Platforms (META): $1.667T
• Tesla (TSLA): $1.483T
• Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A): $1.073T
• Walmart (WMT): $913.03B
• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): $871.377B
• Intel (INTC): $518.281B
• Cisco (CSCO): $469.977B
• IBM (IBM): $273.502B
• Dell (DELL): $275.78B
• Netflix (NFLX): $310.925B
• SoftBank (SFTBF): $218.098B
• Disney (DIS): $166.688B
• Sony (SONY): $122.34B
• Spotify (SPOT): $99.839B
• Adobe (ADBE): $91.669B
• Nokia (NOK): $65.958B
• Hewlett-Packard (HPQ): $22.653B
• SiriusXM (SIRI): $10.487B
• BlackBerry (BB): $6.286B
• Sonos (SONO): ~$1.98B
• Liquidmetal (LQMT): ~$0.135B
• RealNetworks (RNWK) was delisted from U.S. exchanges on December 21, 2022 and is no longer publicly traded.

Apple all-time high (AAPL) via NASDAQ here.

MacDailyNews Take: Gaudy (yet still woefully undervalued)! To the moon, Alice. To the moon!

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The post Apple shares hit new all-time closing and intraday highs appeared first on MacDailyNews.

In Nasdaq trading today, shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) rose $1.99 to $317.31 to hit a new all-time closing high. Apple’s all-time intraday high was also set today at $323.45.

Apple’s 52-week low stands at $201.50.

Today’s trading volume for AAPL shares was 41,376,714 versus Apple’s average trading volume of 54,682,654 shares.

Apple’s PE Ratio currently stands at 38.42.

Apple currently has a market value of $4.660 trillion, making it the world’s second-most valuable company.

The top five U.S. publicly-traded companies, based on market value:

1. NVIDIA (NVDA) – $4.930T
2. Apple (AAPL) – $4.660T
3. Alphabet (GOOGL) – $4.302T
4. Microsoft (MSFT) – $2.904T
5. Amazon (AMZN) – $2.660T

Selected companies’ current market values:

• Taiwan Semi (TSM): $2.195T
• SpaceX (SPCX): $1.833T
• Tesla (TSLA): $1.483T
• Meta Platforms (META): $1.667T
• Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A): $1.073T
• Walmart (WMT): $913.03B
• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): $871.377B
• Intel (INTC): $518.281B
• Cisco (CSCO): $469.977B
• Netflix (NFLX): $310.925B
• IBM (IBM): $273.502B
• Dell (DELL): $275.78B
• SoftBank (SFTBF): $218.098B
• Disney (DIS): $166.688B
• Sony (SONY): $122.34B
• Spotify (SPOT): $99.839B
• Adobe (ADBE): $91.669B
• Nokia (NOK): $65.958B
• Hewlett-Packard (HPQ): $22.653B
• SiriusXM (SIRI): $10.487B
• BlackBerry (BB): $6.286B
• Sonos (SONO): ~$1.98B
• Liquidmetal (LQMT): ~$0.135B
• RealNetworks (RNWK) was delisted from U.S. exchanges on December 21, 2022 and is no longer publicly traded.

Apple all-time high (AAPL) via NASDAQ here.

MacDailyNews Take: To the moon, Alice. To the moon!

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The post Apple shares hit new all-time closing and intraday highs appeared first on MacDailyNews.

SpaceX bears are smelling blood in the water. As its stock languishes below its IPO price  — at press time, $131 — short sellers are going all in against the company, hoping to make a killing off of CEO Elon Musk’s faltering pull on investors.

As CNBC reports citing data from S3 Partners, 185 million SpaceX shares are now sold short, which is nearly 29 percent of its publicly tradable shares, when it was around only five to seven percent three weeks ago.

It’s one of the highest levels of short selling for a company in its first month of being publicly traded, Ihor Dusaniwsky, a managing director at S3, told Bloomberg.

“The recent price weakness has spurred short selling as well as the anticipation of lockups expiring soon,” he added, referring to the additional SpaceX shares that will soon be tradeable and will play a large role in how the stock performs.

SpaceX priced its IPO at $135 a share and seemed to set the tone when its price rose to $150 on its opening day and powered past $200 in the days that followed. Those blockbuster gains were short-lived, however. Its price has steadily declined over the past month, losing a third of its value since its peak.

Investors have questioned Musk’s vision for the company — which includes an ambitious pivot to building orbital AI data centers — while its path to profitability remains unclear. Last year, the company lost nearly $5 billion.

Musk’s decision to combine SpaceX with his AI startup xAI before the IPO has also exposed the rocket company to xAI’s numerous controversies, such as its chatbot Grok being used to generate millions of nonconsensual sexualized images of real people. Before, the public fascination around spaceflight had helped shield SpaceX against anti-Musk sentiment.

Off the back of this waning enthusiasm, short sellers have seen their paper profits surge to $3.88 billion, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

But the next few months could be a key turning point for the stock’s performance — or further sink its hopes. Only a small percentage of SpaceX’s shares were made available when the company went public as a measure to prevent insiders from quickly cashing out and crashing the stock price. But around half of its shares will be unlocked from now until December, dwarfing what’s currently available.

If investors dump those unlocked shares, it could send SpaceX’s stock tumbling. Experts have warned that this period of gradually unlocking stocks could be considerably volatile— which isn’t exactly reassuring, given the company’s recent performance.

More on SpaceX: SpaceX Investors Are Lamenting All the Money They’ve Lost

The post Short Sellers Are Having a Field Day Betting Against SpaceX as Shares Continue to Slip appeared first on Futurism.