This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.
What you need to know today
Oracle portends more market trouble
U.S. stocks slumped Tuesday — Oracle plunged 13.5% and Apple dropped 1.7% — giving the Nasdaq Composite its first losing day in three. Europe's Stoxx 600 closed 0.2% lower. But the U.K.'s FTSE 100 rose 0.41% as the country's unemployment rate rose 0.5 percentage points to 4.3% for the May to June period, in line with expectations.
Apple's new iPhones at old prices
Apple announced the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro, both of which come in a bigger Plus variety, at its annual launch event Tuesday. Both have swapped out Apple's proprietary Lightning connector for USB-C. Surprisingly, Apple kept the price of the iPhone 15 Pro unchanged from last year at $999. The company also refreshed its high-end Apple Watch Ultra with an updated chip and screen.
Elon Musk, 'outstanding person'
SpaceX's monopoly in rocket launches is "probably not healthy" for the industry, warned Vikram Nidamaluri, a managing director at Lazard. Separately, speaking about Russia's space program, Russian President Vladimir Putin described Elon Musk as an "outstanding person." Finally, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren called for a probe into Musk following a claim that he disrupted a Ukrainian military operation on Russia's warships by disconnecting Starlink's network over Crimea.
Kim Jong Un in Russia
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia on an armored train Tuesday morning. Kim's itinerary includes a one-on-one meeting with Putin. White House officials and political analysts believe the talks will focus on arms deals and military cooperation, raising concerns Pyongyang could provide rockets and ammunition to Moscow for its war in Ukraine.
[PRO] High oil prices, happy energy stocks
On Tuesday, oil prices hit their highest level since November 2022, according to FactSet data. And Morgan Stanley thinks they will remain high in the coming months. With that in mind, the bank thinks it's currently a good play to pick these energy stocks that will be juiced by oil prices.
The bottom line
Apple's new iPhones couldn't silence stocks' September slump.
Shares of the most valuable company in the world sank 1.7% after Apple's announcement. That's not really something to worry about. Apple's shares have tended to slip after announcing new products, but that's usually a one-day hangover. In other words, yesterday's fall is less a reflection of investor interest in the company — Apple's one of those immovable bedrocks of the American stock market, at least for the past decade — than the current mood in markets.
Indeed, all of the "Magnificent Seven" tech stocks retreated yesterday, CNBC's Scott Schnipper noted. While not part of the vaunted group, Oracle shares plummeted 13.5%. That's its worst performance since 2002, after posting disappointing fiscal first-quarter earnings Monday.
"Oracle, which isn't a super large stock, but it is a look into the spending of businesses — and larger businesses at that — disappointed today, and that's one of the factors that are suppressing both the NASDAQ and the S&P," said Kim Forrest, founder at Bokeh Capital Partners.
The Nasdaq Composite lost 1.04%, snapping a two-day winning streak, while the S&P 500 declined 0.57%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 0.05%.
Investors looking for a silver lining in September can seek solace in noted investors' and analysts' calls.
DoubleLine Capital CEO Jeffrey Gundlach's predicted the Federal Reserve should be done raising interest rates. Even better, Gundlach thinks the Fed will cut "in the first half of the next year," and at a speed much faster than it had raised rates. "The Fed raises rates by taking the stairs and they cut rates by taking the elevator," Gundlach said.
And David Kostin, Goldman Sachs' chief U.S. equity strategist, told CNBC he thinks the S&P might exceed his year-end target of 4,500.
It's true 4,500 isn't that's not far off from the index's close of 4,461. But Kostin's comments imply that — unlike Apple's frozen iPhone prices — stocks will at least rise, and not remain stagnant or fall further, between now and the end of the year.
