Good evening and welcome to Markets Desk, your close-of-day read on what moved the needle.
Apple is feeling the weight of its own ambitions. The iPhone maker has reportedly asked suppliers to cut component orders for the iPhone eighteen Pro and Pro Max by at least fifteen percent after demand for its premium models came in softer than expected. The culprit, in part, is the rising cost of integrating artificial intelligence into the hardware, a bill that is starting to land squarely on the consumer and, it appears, giving them pause.
Shifting to semiconductors, Micron is sending a pointed message to shareholders through its latest buyback disclosure. An analyst noted the move appears deliberately calibrated to show that Micron returns cash more generously than a key rival. In a sector where investor confidence can hinge on capital allocation signals as much as earnings, that kind of positioning carries real weight.
And across the Atlantic, France is drawing a harder line on crypto taxation. The National Assembly's Finance Committee has adopted an amendment that would treat swaps from Bitcoin or Ether into certain stablecoins as taxable disposals, even when no cash ever leaves the crypto ecosystem. The rule would effectively tax the act of moving between digital assets, a significant shift that could reshape how European investors manage portfolio risk.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
