What’s happening: Shares of Apple rose in after-hours trading on Thursday, following the release of the company’s fiscal first-quarter results.
What happened: The iPhone maker reported stronger-than-expected sales and earnings for the recent quarter.
Although Apple recorded a year-over-year decline in iPhone and wearables segment sales, it issued a reassuring outlook for the current quarter.
How were the results: The Cupertino, California-based company reported single-digit growth in revenues for the fiscal first quarter ended December 28.
Why it matters: Apple’s latest results marked the eighth straight quarter of beating estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
Products revenues rose to $97.96 billion in the latest quarter, from $96.46 billion in the year-ago period, while Services revenues surged to $26.34 billion, from $23.12 billion.
Apple’s iPhone sales contracted to $69.14 billion, from $69.7 billion in the year-ago quarter. The wearables segment, which includes the Apple Watch and AirPods, reported sales of $11.75 billion, missing estimates of $12.01 billion.
Mac sales climbed to $8.99 billion, from $7.78 billion, driven by a new lineup of iMacs, Mac Minis and MacBook Pros with a M4 chip. iPad sales, at $8.09 billion, topped expectations of $7.32 billion.
Sales in Greater China, one of the company’s biggest markets, fell to $18.51 billion, from $20.82 billion in the year-earlier quarter. Apple is facing stiff competition from local brands in the region.
Apple’s active installed base of devices surged to a new record high across all products and geographic segments.
CEO Tim Cook said that Apple Intelligence will be available “in even more languages this April.”
The company’s board declared a quarterly cash dividend of 25 cents per share. Management guided to sales growth in the low-to-mid single-digit range for the current quarter.
How shares responded: Apple’s shares climbed 3% to $244.79 in extended trading on Thursday, following the release of quarterly results. The stock has surged around 26% over the past year.
What to watch: Investors will continue monitoring rollout of AI features in the company’s devices, which could provide a boost to its overall results ahead.
Context: The CAD/USD forex pair edged higher this morning amid strength in crude prices.
Details: Data released on Thursday showed that the average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees in Canada had grown by 5.0% year-over-year to $1,285.91 in November, following a 4.2% gain in the previous month. Canada posted growth in average weekly earnings in 17 of 20 sectors.
The CFIB’s Business Barometer long-term index for Canada declined to 54.6 in January, from 56.4 in December.
On Wednesday, the Bank of Canada cut its key policy rate by 25 basis points to 3%. The central bank also projected GDP growth of 1.8% in 2025 and 2026, compared to 1.3% in 2024, with inflation projected to remain around 2%.
Strength in price of crude oil, one of Canada’s major exports, provided a boost to the loonie this morning. WTI crude oil prices surged 0.9% to trade at $73.39 a barrel.
A higher greenback weighed on the CAD/USD forex pair. The US dollar index, which measures the greenback’s performance versus a basket of major peers, gained around 0.3% to 108.09 this morning.
The CAD/USD edged higher to 1.4476 this morning. The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 1.31% to settle at a record high level of 25,808.25 on Thursday, amid a surge in major mining stocks.
What to watch: Investors await the release of economic data on Canada’s GDP (1730 UAE Time) and budget balance (2000 UAE Time) today. The country’s GDP, which shrank by 0.1% in November to record the first decline in eleven months, is expected to expand by 0.2% in December.
Analysts expect Canada’s government budget deficit to widen to C$1.9 billion in November, from C$1.5 billion in the previous month.
Other Markets: US trading indices closed higher on Thursday, with the Dow Jones index, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 up by 0.38%, 0.53% and 0.45%, respectively.
Russia is focusing on seizing the town of Pokrovsk, in east of Ukraine. The news sent the RUB/USD pair higher in forex trading this morning.
Philippines’ producer prices increased 0.2% year-over-year in December. This marked a slowdown from the 0.4% rise in the previous month, lending support to the PHP/USD forex pair.
Argentina’s central bank slashed its benchmark interest rate by 300 bps to 29% at its latest meeting, sending the ARS/USD pair lower in forex trading this morning.
Australia’s private sector credit rose by 0.6% in December, matching the rate of the previous three months. The latest result topping market estimates of a 0.5% gain lent support to the AUD/USD forex pair.
Japan’s retail sales rose by 3.7% year-over-year in December, following a 2.8% rise in the previous month. The latest reading topping market estimates of a 3.2% gain sent the JPY/USD pair higher in forex trading this morning.
Spain’s retail sales (1200 UAE Time) and current account (1300 UAE Time), Turkey’s tourist arrivals (1200 UAE Time), Germany’s unemployment change (1255 UAE Time), unemployed persons (1255 UAE Time), unemployment rate (1255 UAE Time) and inflation rate (1700 UAE Time), Italy’s PPI (1400 UAE Time), India’s government budget value (1430 UAE Time), bank loan growth (1530 UAE Time), deposit growth (1530 UAE Time), foreign exchange reserves (1530 UAE Time) and infrastructure output (1530 UAE Time), Brazil’s gross debt to GDP (1530 UAE Time), nominal budget balance (1530 UAE Time) and unemployment rate (1600 UAE Time), South Africa’s balance of trade (1600 UAE Time), as well as US core PCE Price index (1730 UAE Time), personal income (1730 UAE Time), personal spending (1730 UAE Time), employment cost index (1730 UAE Time), Chicago PMI (1845 UAE Time), Baker Hughes oil rig count (2200 UAE Time) and Baker Hughes total rigs count (2200 UAE Time).