Apple is among the largest companies in the world, with a broad portfolio of hardware and software products targeted at consumers and businesses. Apple’s iPhone makes up a majority of the firm sales, and Apple’s other products like Mac, iPad, and Watch are designed around the iPhone as the focal point of an expansive software ecosystem. Apple has progressively worked to add new applications, like streaming video, subscription bundles, and augmented reality. The firm designs its own software and semiconductors while working with subcontractors like Foxconn and TSMC to build its products and chips. Slightly less than half of Apple’s sales come directly through its flagship stores, with a majority of sales coming indirectly through partnerships and distribution.

The news over the weekend was not what investors hoped to hear, and crude oil prices are moving higher yet again. For stocks, you can flip a coin -- as the U.S. market has been immune to jumps in WTI of late. After a great start to the month, geopolitical worries were seemingly starting to calm. Indeed, last week the S&P 500 (SPX) rose 3.6%, its best five-day stretch since late November 2025. The Nasdaq ripped higher by 4.7%, the Nasdaq 100 popped 4.5%, the S&P 400 gained 3.3% and the S&P 600 added 4%.

Apple is among the largest companies in the world, with a broad portfolio of hardware and software products targeted at consumers and businesses. Apple’s iPhone makes up a majority of the firm sales, and Apple’s other products like Mac, iPad, and Watch are designed around the iPhone as the focal point of an expansive software ecosystem. Apple has progressively worked to add new applications, like streaming video, subscription bundles, and augmented reality. The firm designs its own software and semiconductors while working with subcontractors like Foxconn and TSMC to build its products and chips. Slightly less than half of Apple’s sales come directly through its flagship stores, with a majority of sales coming indirectly through partnerships and distribution.

The stock, metals, and crypto markets have been completely dislocated for four months, with each dancing to its own tune. Going back to the late 1960s, the S&P 500 and gold have been highly correlated at times and highly negatively correlated at other times. Over that period, gold and silver have had a very negative correlation with the U.S. Dollar Index (USD), as most of the great advances in the metals have occurred during long periods of dollar weakness, and vice versa. One might think that a weak USD would coincide with strong stock-market returns, but that's just not always the case. Starting in 2014, Bitcoin (BTC) was negatively correlated with the USD. The first two massive runs by BTC occurred when the USD was weak, while two of the BTC bear markets occurred when the USD was trending higher. That negative correlation seemed to break in 2024, and there have been periods of risk-on behavior when BTC has been highly correlated with the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ). Those times include 2017, March 2020 until November 2021, and a number of times since the end of the 2022 bear market. But the BTC and QQQ correlation has also been busted of late. BTC topped in October 2025 and has witnessed a nasty bear market, while the QQQ has gone sideways since October. John Murphy was the first technician to write about Intermarket Technical Analysis in his 1991 book, and he offers an important lesson: some correlations have (for the most part) lasted for decades and others simply last until they don't. Investors have to be flexible or the markets will throw them to the wolves. (Mark Arbeter, CMT)