Apple shares have climbed for four months straight to help the company unseat Nvidia as the world’s most valuable listed company, Reuters reported on Monday, as investors awaited earnings later in the day. Share markets steadied in Asia on Monday as investors hoped Apple earnings would provide some relief from worries about cash burn on artificial intelligence.
Analysts are looking for quarterly earnings per share of $2 on revenue of $113 billion, up from $1.85 in the same period last year. Apple might also offer some guidance on how early sales of the iPhone 18 are performing, with pre-orders having started in mid-October.
Apple earnings arrive after a weak month for tech
The optimism helped S&P 500 futures edge up 0.4%, while Nasdaq futures rose 0.8%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq lost almost 7% in October, its worst month since the tariff rout of April 2025. Investors want Apple results to provide some upbeat news after concerns about negative cash flow and the scale of AI spending saw the cost of insuring against corporate defaults rise sharply last week.
Apple has been an oasis of relative calm given it does not spend billions on data centres, Reuters reported. Intel’s near 29% fall on Friday has also raised the stakes for other chip groups, including AMD. An added wrinkle is the midterm elections in the United States, where a win by Democrats in either or both houses could result in more political hurdles for data centres.
Apple sits apart from heavy AI spenders
Analysts at Goldman Sachs expect spending on data centres by hyperscalers to almost double to $800 billion this year, and rise further to $1.2 trillion in 2027. At the same time, they see S&P 500 earnings per share growth of nearly 30% in 2026 slowing to 18% next year. Ben Snider, Goldman chief US equity strategist, wrote in a note that third-quarter results support the view that AI investment spending will continue to grow but that the growth rate of AI spending is peaking.
Snider added that earnings growth is strong but is no longer accelerating. The comment captured a tension in the market. Growth remains strong, but it is no longer speeding up, and investors are asking whether heavy spending on AI infrastructure will pay off at the pace share prices assume.
Apple results come with elections and rate bets
Japan’s Nikkei was down 0.1%, but off early lows, while South Korea added 0.8%, having shed 16% last month. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.2%. In Europe, EUROSTOXX 50 futures and DAX futures both firmed 0.1%, while FTSE futures were flat.
The retreat in equities last month provided a reprieve to safe-haven bonds, with investors wondering if a sustained selloff in stocks could deter the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates in December. Futures still imply a 72% chance of a quarter-point rate rise, but now only have 55 basis points of total tightening priced in, compared with more than 70 basis points a month ago. Yields on 10-year Treasuries stood at 4.941%, well off their October peak of 5.3645%, while 2-year yields stood at 4.612%.
Alongside Apple earnings, economic data due this week includes the US ISM survey of manufacturing for October later on Monday, while the payrolls report is on Friday. Median forecasts are for a 65,000 rise in jobs, after September’s disappointing 29,000 gain, with the unemployment rate holding at 4.2%.
In currency markets, the euro was a shade firmer at $1.1169, while the dollar was barely changed at 157.75 yen. For commodities, oil prices slipped as talks continued aimed at pushing for a deal to end the US-Israeli war on Iran, though tankers were still being attacked in the Gulf. Brent futures dipped 2.0% to $111.15 a barrel, though that follows a 13.6% jump in October, while US crude futures eased 2.3% to $101.73 a barrel. Non-interest-bearing gold rose 0.9% to $3,911 an ounce, having fallen 6.8% last month amid talk some investors were having to sell to cover margin calls on equities. Withdrawals from Binance added to the unease as the exchange went back online on Sunday after hackers stole billions from the platform last week. Apple and Palantir report after the US market closes on Monday.