Wednesday's Final Takeaways: AAPL iPhone Duo Steals Stage, U.S. Treasury's $6B Buyback

Marley Kayden (0:01)

Welcome back to Market On Close. I'm Marley Kayden here in Chicago. Here's some final thoughts on this session today. The first one, the Treasury Department, buying back up to $6 billion of longer term government debt. They're targeting 10 and 20 year notes in an operation that is three times the normal size. The move is designed to improve liquidity and support the long end of the Treasury market after a sharp rise in longer term yields. But the initial market reaction was the opposite of what the Treasury likely wanted. The 10 year yield climbed to around 4.84.

That's its highest level since 2023, while the 30 year yield moved above 5.3% as we saw oil then top $100 a barrel, adding to inflation concerns. But the announcement has so far failed to calm the bond market. I mean, we've seen these yields moving higher as investors remain focused on inflation, oil prices and the government's massive borrowing needs. The bigger question for the market seems to be whether the Treasury's larger buybacks can actually put downward pressure on long-term borrowing costs, or whether fiscal and inflation concerns will continue to push those yields higher. We'll get our first piece of inflation data tomorrow, but we have to talk about Apple, unveiling its biggest iPhone upgrade in years, officially entering the foldable market with the new iPhone Duo, featuring both an internal and external display in a passport size design. The company also introduced the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, powered by its new 2-nanometer A20 Pro chip. Each of those phones has $100 price increase, taking the Pro up to just under $1,200, the Pro Max at about $1,300.

Now, Apple is touting its significantly improved AI capabilities through Siri AI and Apple Intelligence, offering personal context. They also unveiled their Apple Watch Siri 12 and Ultra 4, adding more advanced health tracking and AI-powered features, including 15-second conversation rewind and summaries. They kept the starting prices at $399 and $799 respectively. They're also expanding their AI push across its ecosystem with new AirPods. This is the fifth iteration, featuring 50% better noise cancellation, real-time translation, and the inclusion of that Siri AI, and those start at $129.

As we look ahead to tomorrow, we've got more earnings on the way. We'll hear from Macy's in the morning. Then we'll have Oracle, Adobe, and RH in the afternoon. We'll get that look at the consumer in both apparel and in home spending. Plus, we'll have software in the AI buildout with Adobe and Oracle. For Oracle, debt and capex concerns persist, so free cash flow going to be in focus tomorrow, as the AI narrative keeps getting louder. On the data front, we'll get weekly jobless claims, existing home sales, and our first round of inflation data this week in the PPI, which I just mentioned there ahead of Friday's CPI report, which could be a major market catalyst if it comes in anything but in line. We are not to Friday yet, though, so let's not get ahead of ourselves. That is going to do it for us today on Market On Close. Thank you so much for being with us today. I'm Marley Kayden. Be sure to download our Schwab Network app, available in the Apple App Store, and you can tune in 24-7 on schwabnetwork.com. I hope you have a great rest of your Wednesday.