NEW YORK, December 30, 2025, 09:45 ET — Regular session
- Apple shares were up 0.1% in early trading after Monday’s tech-led pullback.
- Barclays flagged improving iPhone shipments in China but said Apple’s market share remains below prior peaks.
- Investors are positioning into year-end with Fed minutes due later Tuesday.
Apple Inc shares were up 0.1% at $273.76 in early Tuesday trading, steadying after a tech-driven dip on Wall Street to start the final week of the year.
The moves matter now because Apple is one of the market’s biggest stocks, and small shifts in sentiment toward mega-cap technology can sway broader indexes in thin, year-end trading.
Traders are also bracing for fresh signals on U.S. rates, with minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting due later Tuesday, as investors try to gauge the pace of expected easing in 2026. 1
Wall Street opened muted, a day after selling pressure hit heavyweight technology names. The Dow was down 0.06% at the open, the S&P 500 slipped 0.08% and the Nasdaq was off 0.04%, Reuters reported. 2
On Monday, all three main U.S. indexes ended lower as technology and AI-linked stocks pulled back from last week’s gains, Reuters said, in a break from what some investors look for in a “Santa Claus rally” — a seasonal stretch of gains typically seen in the last five trading days of the year and the first two in January. 1
Apple-specific focus shifted to demand signals out of China. Barclays analyst Tim Long said iPhone market share in China ticked up to 13% through the first eleven months of 2025, but remained below the company’s 2023 levels; “the trend of share loss continues,” he wrote. 3
Barclays said implied iPhone shipments in November fell about 3% from October, based on MIIT shipment data, while still sharply higher than a year earlier, and reiterated an underweight call on Apple citing risks including services regulation and valuation, according to Investing.com. 3
Separately, MarketScreener reported that Barclays kept its Sell rating on Apple and maintained a $230 target price. 4
Supply-chain and hardware demand remained another watch item heading into 2026. TrendForce revised down its 2026 global notebook shipment outlook and said Apple and Lenovo were better positioned than many peers to stabilise shipments, citing supply-chain and product mix advantages. 5
Apple’s market value stood at about $3.01 trillion, and the stock traded at roughly 30 times earnings, leaving investors sensitive to any change in expectations for iPhone upgrades and services growth.
Macro headlines are likely to keep driving day-to-day moves through the holiday-shortened week, with markets closed on Thursday for New Year’s Day and volumes expected to remain light, Reuters reported. 1
The next major company catalyst is earnings. Nasdaq and Yahoo Finance calendars estimate Apple will report results around Jan. 29, 2026, though Apple has not confirmed the date. 6
When Apple last reported results in October, Chief Executive Tim Cook forecast overall revenue growth of 10% to 12% for the holiday quarter and said iPhone sales were expected to grow by double digits, setting the bar for the upcoming report. 7
