Apple Rises 3% Under New CEO John Ternus Amid NASDAQ Sell-Off
Apple's stock rose 3% on its first day under new CEO John Ternus, bucking the trend in a session where the NASDAQ skidded. The company's untouched balance sheet is being cited as the reason behind Apple's strong performance, while its debt-funded peers like Oracle stumbled. The Invesco QQQ Trust and SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust were down 1.16% and 0.66%, respectively, indicating that large-cap tech was falling harder than the broader market.
The pairing of a rising Apple and a falling Oracle on the same session is particularly noteworthy. Oracle's stock price dropped 5% to $141.72 due to its massive debt burden, which reprices its buildout directly with higher long-end yields. In contrast, Apple carries no comparable capital expenditure cycle and generates enormous free cash flow.
John Ternus takes over from Tim Cook, who grew Apple's market capitalization from $350 billion to over $4 trillion across 15 years as CEO. The new CEO has a pressing task ahead of him: recruiting top AI engineers. Apple is set to introduce the iPhone 18 line and its first foldable iPhone at an upcoming product event on September 9, alongside a closer look at its generative-AI version of Siri.