All you need for a rally is a good iPhone

Despite some critics' disapproval of the iPhone 17 Pro's bold 'Cosmic Orange' hue, Apple's latest smartphone lineup is proving to be a hit among consumers and investors alike. According to Counterpoint data, the iPhone 17 series, which includes the standard model, the high-performing Pro, and the sleek Air, has outperformed its predecessor in both the U.S. and China. Notably, the iPhone Air sold out almost immediately after its release in China, as reported by the South China Morning Post. This surge in demand has resulted in a nearly 4% increase in Apple's stock, pushing it to an all-time high, much to the relief of CEO Tim Cook and shareholders. Despite being one of the slower performers in the 'Magnificent 7' tech stocks, this uptick has brought Apple's year-to-date growth to approximately 5%, a stark contrast to Nvidia's impressive 36% and Meta's 25% gains. In the midst of this, Amazon faced its own challenges on Monday as its cloud service, Amazon Web Services, experienced an outage that affected numerous popular sites, including Reddit and Snapchat. Fortunately, Amazon's shares still managed to rise by about 1.6% despite the hiccup. Broader U.S. markets also saw positive movement, with all major indexes ending the day with gains exceeding 1%. Investors are now looking ahead to trade developments with China and upcoming earnings reports from major companies such as Netflix, Tesla, and Intel. In other news, Australia has signed a minerals agreement with the U.S. worth up to $8.5 billion, which includes initiatives to develop rare earths processing in Australia. This comes amid a time of economic uncertainty in the U.K., where Finance Minister Rachel Reeves is preparing to introduce the Autumn Budget. Meanwhile, discussions between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have raised tensions, with Trump suggesting that Ukraine should concede territory to Russia to resolve ongoing conflicts.