Israel Airstrikes Gaza Following Ceasefire Breach Allegations

Summary:

A fresh wave of conflict erupted as Israel launched airstrikes in Gaza after accusing Hamas of violating the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement initiated to stabilize the region.

This escalation highlights regional instability's potential to influence global markets, though direct impacts on crypto markets remain undocumented despite historical risk-off tendencies during similar geopolitical tensions.

Israel Accuses Hamas of Ceasefire Violation

Israel conducted airstrikes in Gaza after accusing Hamas of violating a U.S.-brokered ceasefire. The United States played a key role in mediating the ceasefire, seeking to maintain regional stability amidst ongoing tensions.

The Israeli government claims Hamas breached the ceasefire, while Hamas expresses a willingness to transfer administration. The situation remains tense, with both parties engaged in mutual accusations that could hinder peace efforts.

"We have engaged in renewed airstrikes in Gaza because Hamas has breached the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement." - Spokesperson, Israel Defense Forces (IDF)

International Concern Over Rising Geopolitical Tensions

The recent escalation generates international concern, potentially influencing geopolitical stability. While current reports show no direct crypto market impact, previous conflicts suggest these events can alter risk perceptions and market behavior.

Potential outcomes could include shifts in crypto market sentiment and asset flows. Historical trends indicate such geopolitical events, though not directly affecting crypto assets initially, can reflect in market volatility based on risk assessments.

Past Conflicts Shaping Current Market Sentiments

Past Israeli-Palestinian escalations have occasionally triggered market volatility. Investors often pivot to safe havens, temporarily affecting global markets, including crypto sectors. Such past patterns could possibly reemerge, depending on future developments.

Source: CryptoSlate

Risk Warnings and Disclaimers

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Daniel Carter

Political

Economic

Under a pact announced Tuesday, the administration is committing more than $80 billion to buy reactors from Westinghouse Electric Co. It follows moves to take equity positions in chip giant Intel Corp. and United States Steel Corp.

The goal: help ease financing concerns that have deterred project development — even as enthusiasm for new reactors mounts.

Indeed, while President Donald Trump has championed the country's nuclear industry, a wariness remains among developers and utilities following projects that went over-budget.

"The Trump administration is serious about nuclear," said Tim Fox, an analyst at ClearView Energy Partners. "Having this policy support for nuclear energy may be necessary."

Under the agreement, the US will be the initial buyer for multiple reactors from Westinghouse, according to Simon Maine, a spokesman for Brookfield Asset Management, one of the manufacturer's owners. Such support, he explained, should be enough to start project development, including the placing of orders for components that aren't quick to produce and deliver.

The terms of the investment also have the potential to deliver a stake in Westinghouse to the US, though not immediately, according to Maine. The US will be granted a share of Westinghouse profits once certain conditions are met, and the company may eventually pursue an initial public offering. That may translate to about an 8% share for the US, Maine said.

Much of the government's funding will come from a separate agreement announced Tuesday, with Japan agreeing to invest more than $330 billion in US energy infrastructure.

The artificial intelligence boom has driven a surge in new power demand — and revived interest in nuclear, which can provide clean round-the-clock electricity. But development of reactors takes several years.

The newest US nuclear site was completed in Georgia last year, seven years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget. A similar project in South Carolina was abandoned in 2017 after estimated costs soared beyond $20 billion. Both of those projects involved the same Westinghouse reactor design that's at the heart of the current deal. (There's now a push to finish the South Carolina project.)

"If I'm looking to accelerate nuclear energy in the US, Westinghouse is the logical partner," said Tison Campbell, a partner with the law firm K&L Gates LLP.

Source: Yahoo Finance

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Manuel

Political

Palestinian-Israeli conflict

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered “forceful strikes” against Hamas in response to attacks on Israeli soldiers in Gaza, jeopardizing a US-brokered ceasefire that’s held for just over two weeks.

The order to strike in the Palestinian territory came after security consultations, the Israeli leader’s office said Tuesday in a post on X. Defense Minister Israel Katz later said Hamas will “pay a heavy price” for attacking Israeli troops and violating a promise to return the bodies of dead hostages.

The Hamas attack “is a crossing of a red line to which the IDF will respond with great force,” Katz said in a statement. An Israeli military official added that Hamas militants had attacked Israeli forces in Rafah, an area in southern Gaza controlled by Israel as part of the truce agreement.

Israeli strikes in the territory killed at least 20 people late Tuesday, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said, citing medical sources. The Associated Press reported that the sound of tank fire and explosions could be heard in Gaza City and elsewhere in the territory. Israel notified the US in advance of the strikes, the AP said.

In a post on Telegram, Hamas denied it had anything to do with the shooting and reiterated its commitment to the ceasefire. The group had said earlier it would postpone the handing over of the remains of one dead hostage due to previous Israeli violations of the agreement.

Earlier, the Israel Defense Forces had called out Hamas for refusing to release the remains of hostages in violation of the agreement. Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the US and European Union, rejected accusations that it’s prolonging the search operations, accusing Israel of “hindering” efforts to locate the hostage bodies.

Israel’s decision to step up strikes calls into question the ceasefire deal announced with great fanfare by US President Donald Trump in mid October. That deal paved the way for Hamas to return the last living hostages taken during the 2023 attacks that triggered the two-year conflict. The end to hostilities was accompanied by an increase in humanitarian aid flows and is meant to lead to talks on governance and reconstruction of the war-ravaged territory.

US Vice President JD Vance, speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, said the deal remained intact.

“We know that Hamas or somebody else within Gaza attacked an IDF soldier,” Vance said. “We expect the Israelis are going to respond, but I think the President’s peace is going to hold despite that.”

Israel’s shekel touched session lows, falling as much as 0.4% against the dollar.

A ceasefire collapse would be a major blow for Trump, who has taken credit for the deal, boasted that it ended hundreds of years of conflict in the region, and repeatedly said it will hold up.

Since the ceasefire took hold, the Hamas-run health ministry said 94 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire. Several US officials including Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump envoy Steve Witkoff have traveled to the region in a bid to shore up the pact.

Those officials have said violations are to be expected in the painstaking move toward peace. In the region last week, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner downplayed one round of fighting, saying “a lot of people are getting a little hysterical about different incursions.”

Source: Bloomberg

Risk Warnings and Disclaimers

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Daniel Carter

Political

Economic

Key points:

● US president makes final stop on Asia trip.

● Meetings with China's Xi, South Korea's Lee expected.

● North Korea test-fires missiles ahead of Trump visit .

U.S. President Donald Trump heads to South Korea on Wednesday for the final leg of his Asia trip, with high-stakes meetings expected with Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korea's Lee Jae Myung.

After arriving on a flight from Tokyo, where he signed a rare earths deal with Japan's new prime minister, Trump is due to address a summit of CEOs and meet with Lee in Gyeongju, a sleepy South Korean town filled with historic tombs and palaces.

At the top of the agenda will be the unresolved trade agreement between the U.S. and South Korea.

The two allies announced a deal in August under which South Korea would avoid the worst of thetariffsby agreeing to pump $350 billion of new investments into the United States.

But talks over the structure of those investments have been deadlocked, and officials from both sides have said Trump and Lee are unlikely to finalise an agreement.

Trump has also pressed allies like South Korea to pay more for defence, and South Korea has sought reforms to U.S. immigration laws to allow for more workers to build factories after a raid on a Hyundai Motorbattery plant in Georgia.

NORTH KOREA TEST-FIRES MISSILES

Trump and Lee are likely to discuss efforts to engage North Korea, which announced early on Wednesday that it had test-fired a nuclear-capable cruise missile the day before.

"It is our responsible mission and duty to ceaselessly toughen the nuclear combat posture," the North Korean official who oversaw the test said, according to state news agency KCNA.

Last week, the North fired its first ballistic missile since May.

Trump has made repeated calls for a meeting with leader Kim Jong Un, including during this trip, but there has been no public comment from Pyongyang. Kim has previously said he could be open to talking if Washington stops pressing him to give up nuclear weapons.

TRADE AGENDA

Filled with thousands of police and soldiers for security, Gyeongju will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum this week, but Trump will skip the leaders' summit scheduled for Friday and Saturday.

"Trump dislikes large international gatherings and prefers to have one-on-one meetings with key leaders," said Christopher Padilla, senior adviser at advisory firm Brunswick Group in Washington. "But while the U.S. steps back, most of the world has continued to work through such institutions, finding them a useful source of cooperation on international problems."

Instead, Trump will address the APEC CEO summit, hold bilateral meetings with several countries' leaders, including China's Xi, and have dinner with Lee.

The Xi-Trump meeting, expected on Thursday, is overshadowing the rest of the week's busy diplomatic schedule.

Negotiators from the world's top two economies hashed out a framework on Sunday for a deal to pause steeper American tariffs and Chinese rare earths export controls, U.S. officials said. The news sent Asian stocks soaring to record peaks.

FINAL STOP IN ASIA TRIP

Trump is arriving in Gyeongju after a whirlwind swing through the region, among the hardest hit by his tariff policies and increased U.S.-China competition.

In Malaysia, he announced a slew of trade agreements on the sidelines of the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit and oversaw the signing of an expanded truce between Thailand and Cambodia after a border conflict.

In Tokyo on Tuesday, Trump lavished praise on Japan's first female Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, welcoming her pledge to accelerate a military buildup and signing deals on trade and rare earths.

Takaichi applauded Trump's push to resolve global conflicts, vowing to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize, according to Trump's spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt.

The U.S. and Japan also released a list of projects in the areas of energy, artificial intelligence and critical minerals in which Japanese companies are eyeing investments of up to $400 billion.

Tokyo pledged to provide $550 billion of strategic U.S. investments, loans and guarantees earlier this year as part of a deal to win reprieve from Trump's punishing import tariffs.

Washington has pressed South Korea to make a similar arrangement, but Seoul says it cannot afford to pay the $350 billion it pledged upfront. Instead, South Korea has offered a mix of phased investments, loans and other measures.

On Tuesday, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said a last-minute concession by the United States could lead to a deal.

Source: Reuters

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Central Bank

Economic

The Federal Reserve convened its policy meeting Tuesday as the government shutdown verges on nearly a month, leaving central bankers without most official data to make a decision on setting interest rates.

Even so, officials are expected to trim their benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point for the second time this year.

“In the absence of the official data for jobs, they're going to lean on other sources of information, which at this point aren't really going to contradict what they have argued as their reason for cutting,” former Kansas City Federal Reserve president Esther George said in an interview.

Fed officials have been flying blind as the government shutdown, which began Oct. 1, precluded the release of the jobs report for September, arguably the most important data needed to decide the future path of monetary policy.

Meanwhile, private-sector data and anecdotal surveys suggest the job market has deteriorated. Payroll processor ADP reported that private payroll employment fell by 32,000 in September, while the Fed's Beige Book, a compilation of anecdotal evidence from across the country, also painted a weaker picture of the job market.

Wilmington Trust chief economist Luke Tilley notes the average of ADP and workforce intelligence firm Revelio Labs showed job growth of just 13,000 for the month of September.

Looking at job data from the BLS from May through August — with September's suspended on account of the government shutdown — Tilley says total private sector job growth has totaled 157,000 for that four-month period. Healthcare added 249,000 jobs during that time, but all the other private sectors together including manufacturing, construction, retail, information, professional business services, and leisure hospitality, were negative 92,000 jobs.

Tilley believes that the slowdown in the job market is due more to softening demand for workers than to lower immigration due to Trump administration policies that have led to a smaller supply of workers. He doesn’t expect job growth to reaccelerate.

“The job market is a lagging indicator, and there’s a risk that's going to keep going down and that we've already turned in the economy,” said Tilley.

One important piece of data the Fed did get was the Consumer Price Index, which showed inflation cooled slightly in September. On a core basis, which excludes volatile food and energy prices and is the preferred Fed measure, inflation rose by 3%, cooling from 3.1% in the prior month. Month over month, core inflation rose 0.2% after rising 0.3% in the two preceding months.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the government measure of inflation on Oct. 24, despite the government shutdown. The data is required by law to be used to calculate annual cost-of-living increases for Social Security payments before Nov. 1. It was delayed from the initially slated release date of Oct. 15.

“The Fed right now is in a tough spot. It looks like stagflation — not the 1970s, but it really feels like stagflation,” said Patrick Harker, former president of the Philadelphia Fed and Rowan Distinguished Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

“The labor market is clearly softening. Even though we're not going to get that official data, all the other data that shows that it's softening. It's not falling off a cliff yet, but it's softening and inflation remains stuck.”

Harker doesn't see inflation easing soon as tariffs drip into the economy and retailers that have been holding back on price increases begin to raise them.

That said, he agrees with the prevailing expectation that the Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points this week.

Read more: What is stagflation, and how does it impact you?

'Lean in the direction of risk management'

Bond portfolio manager for Wilmington Trust, Wil Stith, says the Fed will look at the inflation data “gingerly,” noting that the new numbers align with the theme of the cut from last meeting, when officials shifted focus to shoring up the job market and away from what they expect to be a one-time increase in prices from tariffs.

“When you look at one risk versus the other risk to their mandate, I think they cut again at this week's meeting,” said Stith.

But George said she thinks the Fed needs to be “very cognizant” of the inflation numbers and constantly reassess the data and where risks lie.

“They want to lean in the direction of risk management around the labor market,” said George. “But if that labor market holds at a pretty low unemployment rate … and you see inflation is continuing to run above your target, I think you have a different decision to make at some point.”

George believes the Fed is overly confident that inflation from tariffs will have a one-time impact on prices and noted that inflation was an issue before tariffs kicked in. In theory, she said, the textbook case suggests tariffs will lead to one-time price adjustments that don’t necessarily translate to inflation. In reality, she said, it’s not that clear-cut, as only part of inflation may be related to tariffs. She said that there are components of inflation that remain high that aren’t necessarily affected by tariffs.

“That's what I'd keep an eye out on, particularly when you had not achieved your inflation target ahead of [tariffs] coming on,” said George.

At the same time, the Fed has to contend with risks of recent losses on loans taken by regional and large banks and whether they have implications for the financial system and the economic outlook.

Delinquencies on subprime auto loans have raised flags about whether lenders weren’t following good loan underwriting standards and whether there are other loan risks. Zions Bancorp disclosed a couple of weeks ago that it would take a $50 million loss on two commercial and industrial loans from its California division. The collapse of auto-parts maker First Brands and Dallas-based subprime auto lender Tricolor have been linked to allegations of auto loan fraud, which has affected multiple banks, including JPMorgan Chase.

Tilley doesn’t think the loan losses on subprime auto loans are the early etchings of a financial crisis, but he takes them as a sign the economy is slowing or may be at a turning point.

“When there's a slowdown in the economy, slowdown in job growth, fewer people are going to be making payments," said Tilley. “Bad underwriting and even fraud doesn't cause that many problems as long as everybody's paying and the economy is doing well.”

Harker also sees the delinquencies as a warning sign for the economy, noting subprime borrowers are the ones being stretched by inflation.

"It's typical of a cycle that credit standards get loosened some and then things get tough and some people stretch too far, some banks stretch too far,” he said.

Harker says he thinks the chances for a recession are low right now, but that the economy is slowing down.

What the Fed has said

Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled about two weeks ago that another rate cut was possible, even as he noted monetary policy will be set meeting by meeting. Absent government data, Powell said that based on the data the Fed does have, "the downside risks to employment appear to have risen" and shifted policymakers' assessment of the balance of risks.

Policymakers on the Fed's 19-member Federal Open Market Committee have penciled in a median estimate of two more rate cuts for this year. Markets have priced in virtual certainty that the Fed will cut rates this week and again in December, even as Powell has cautioned that interest rate projections are subject to change as officials get new data. Fed governor Chris Waller also said after this meeting, the Fed should take a cautious approach to cutting rates further pending data.

Stith says a cut in December is less of a sure thing than this week’s expected cut, stressing that it will depend on what the data shows when it’s finally released.

Harker thinks one more rate cut is enough for this year and that the Fed doesn’t need to make a third cut in December given inflation. However, he still expects the central bank to cut again in December.

While George says a lot can happen in between Fed meetings — a six-week time frame — she still thinks there's a good chance the Fed will cut again come December.

“I think unless the data has a sharp reversal one way or the other — it gets worse or it gets better — I think they're going to have to presume that the state of the world that caused them to cut is still in play,” she said. "But a lot can happen in the six-week time frame here."

Source: Yahoo Finance

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Cryptocurrency

Western Union will distribute a Solana-based stablecoin to its 100 million-plus customers starting in the first half of 2026, pairing Anchorage Digital Bank’s federally regulated issuance with a global on/off-ramp network that converts crypto wallet balances to local cash.

Announced on Oct. 28, this model challenges the neutral-infrastructure strategies deployed by Visa and Stripe.

The US Dollar Payment Token represents a test of whether vertical integration can bring blockchain remittances to mass adoption, where crypto-native protocols have struggled to gain retail traction.

Solana processes USDC transfers at sub-cent costs and settles in seconds, yet most cross-border senders still route payments through traditional money transfer operators or correspondent banking networks.

Western Union’s plan embeds Solana rails inside a branded product with physical distribution, betting that control over issuance, compliance, and cash access will overcome the adoption barriers that have kept stablecoin remittances confined to crypto users.

End-to-end settlement versus neutral rails

Visa and Stripe built stablecoin infrastructure as open platforms that enable third parties to issue tokens and transact across multi-chain networks.

Visa integrated USDC settlement on Ethereum in 2021, then expanded to Solana in 2023, allowing merchant acquirers, including Worldpay and Nuvei, to settle with Visa in stablecoin.

The company added support for PYUSD, Paxos’ USDG, Circle’s euro stablecoin, and the Stellar and Avalanche networks in July 2025, positioning its platform as a settlement layer beneath card transactions that does not issue proprietary tokens.

Visa also operates VTAP, an API-driven stack that lets regulated banks mint and manage fiat-backed tokens.

Stripe re-enabled crypto payments in 2024, processing USDC on Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon, and auto-settling to merchants’ Stripe balances.

The company acquired Bridge in 2025 and launched Open Issuance, a white-label service that allows businesses to issue compliant stablecoins with reserve management and liquidity orchestration handled by partners.

Bridge filed for a US trust bank charter to embed regulatory compliance into the platform, mirroring Anchorage Digital Bank’s role in Western Union’s plan but serving developers and merchants rather than remittance customers.

Western Union’s approach consolidates issuance, distribution, and cash conversion under a single brand.

USDPT will run on Solana, with Anchorage Digital Bank as issuer and custodian, and will be distributed through partner exchanges and Western Union’s Digital Asset Network.

The network connects crypto wallets to Western Union’s agency locations across more than 200 countries and territories, letting customers send USDPT from a wallet and pick up cash in local currency at a retail agent.

Western Union will also accept other digital assets through the network, positioning the infrastructure as a last-mile solution for any crypto holder who needs fiat access.

The economics of that vertical model differ from neutral infrastructure. Visa and Stripe earn fees on transaction flow but do not capture the float on stablecoin reserves or control the end-user relationship.

Western Union will earn on USDPT issuance, transaction fees, foreign-exchange spreads, and agent commissions, stacking revenue across the payment chain.

The company’s existing customer base provides distribution, but converting users who already transact in fiat to a stablecoin-first flow requires education, trust, and incentives that traditional remittance pricing may not offer.

Can Solana remittances go mainstream?

Western Union selected Solana for USDPT based on throughput and cost. Solana processes transactions in under a second with fees measured in fractions of a cent, making micro-remittances economically viable where Ethereum’s variable gas costs create friction.

Anchorage Digital Bank’s involvement addresses custody and reserve management, providing federally regulated infrastructure that meets US compliance standards and enables Western Union to market USDPT as a bank-issued product.

The choice of Solana over multi-chain support distinguishes Western Union’s strategy from Visa and Stripe, which treat chain selection as a configuration option rather than a strategic commitment.

Visa supports Ethereum, Solana, Stellar, and Avalanche; Stripe supports Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon.

Western Union’s single-chain launch simplifies technical integration. Still, it locks the company into Solana’s ecosystem, creating dependency on network performance and limiting interoperability with stablecoins on other chains unless Western Union later bridges USDPT or adds support for competitor tokens.

The Digital Asset Network aims to solve the problem that crypto-native protocols have not solved: converting blockchain balances into spendable cash in jurisdictions where card infrastructure is sparse and bank accounts are uncommon.

Western Union operates more than 600,000 agent locations, many in markets where digital payments remain secondary to cash.

The network will let wallet users, including non-Western Union customers, access that footprint, converting USDPT or other digital assets to local currency with Western Union’s compliance stack managing KYC and AML requirements.

Adoption barriers and competitive pressure

Western Union faces execution risk on multiple fronts. The company must integrate wallet partners, educate customers on stablecoin usage, maintain regulatory compliance across jurisdictions with divergent crypto rules, and compete on price with both traditional money-transfer operators and crypto-native services.

USDC transfers on Solana already undercut Western Union’s pricing in corridors where both sender and receiver hold crypto wallets. Still, adoption has concentrated among crypto users rather than mainstream remittance customers.

Visa and Stripe avoid adoption friction by embedding stablecoins into existing user interfaces.

Visa processes stablecoin settlement invisibly within card transactions; Stripe lets merchants accept stablecoins and receive fiat in their Stripe balance without interacting with wallets or chains.

Western Union’s model requires customers to hold USDPT in a wallet, then initiate a transaction to the Digital Asset Network for cash pickup, adding steps relative to Western Union’s current mobile app, which handles fiat-to-fiat transfers without blockchain exposure.

The company bets that lower cost and faster settlement will offset that complexity, particularly in high-volume corridors where pricing sensitivity drives customer behavior.

Competitive pressure also comes from other remittance providers exploring stablecoin integration.

MoneyGram partnered with Stellar in 2021 to enable USDC cash-in and cash-out at retail locations, though the program has not scaled to match MoneyGram’s core business.

Smaller fintech operators, including Veem and Pangea Money Transfer, support stablecoin payments, positioning them as alternatives to traditional wire services.

Western Union’s scale provides an advantage, but success depends on execution rather than distribution alone.

Western Union’s partnership with Anchorage ensures USDPT meets US banking standards. Still, the company must also navigate international regulations as it rolls out the Digital Asset Network across jurisdictions with varying stablecoin rules.

The European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation imposes reserve and transparency requirements. Jurisdictions, including India and China, restrict or ban the use of stablecoins.

Western Union’s compliance expertise in traditional remittances provides a foundation, but extending that to on-chain operations introduces new legal and operational complexity.

The success of USDPT will test whether branded, vertically integrated stablecoin infrastructure can drive mainstream adoption where open protocols have not.

The outcome depends on whether Western Union’s 100 million customers will adopt on-chain payments and whether the Digital Asset Network can deliver the reliability and cost savings necessary to compete with both traditional operators and crypto-native services.

Source: Cryptoslate

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Stocks

Apple (AAPL) stock eked out a gain on Tuesday to close at another all-time high, as the company earlier in the day became the latest to reach the $4 trillion market cap mark, joining the likes of Nvidia (NVDA) and Microsoft (MSFT) on Tuesday before retreating back below the threshold.

Apple's shares received a further boost following Counterpoint Research's report that the new iPhone 17 lineup outsold the iPhone 16 over the first 10 days it was available in the US and China.

According to the report, iPhone sales jumped 14% year over year during the period, with consumers showing particular interest in both the base iPhone 17 and the iPhone 17 Pro models.

Apple's new iPhone Air is also slightly outselling the iPhone Plus, which it replaced this year. Apple Stock Hits All-Time High, Market cap Touches $4 Trillion as iPhone Momentum, Tech Rally Boosts Shares_1

Apple Stock Hits All-Time High, Market cap Touches $4 Trillion as iPhone Momentum, Tech Rally Boosts Shares_1

But in an Oct. 19 research note, Jefferies analyst Edison Lee said that iPhone sales have cooled off week over week, with lead times, the time it takes to receive a phone after ordering it, shrinking.

"Our tracking of six major markets shows that delivery lead time continues to fall vs last week in most markets and most models," Lee wrote.

"For [iPhone 17 Pro], the US now has zero lead time, which means 3 out of the 6 markets we track have no lead time, while the lead time in China has also fallen. For [iPhone Pro Max], the lead time in the US has fallen further, while Germany/UK remains zero," he added.

Apple's iPhone is still the company's most important business, bringing in $201.2 billion of its $391 billion in total revenue for 2024. Its second-largest segment, Services, brought in $96.2 billion.

Unlike Nvidia and Microsoft, which crossed the $4 trillion market cap mark on the strength of their AI offerings and the broader hype surrounding the AI trade, Apple is relatively far behind when it comes to the technology.

The company still hasn't revealed its highly anticipated AI-powered version of Siri. Rivals Google and Samsung already offer their own AI services in the form of Gemini and Galaxy AI, respectively.

Still, Apple's massive user base of more than 1 billion iPhones and complementary devices such as the Apple Watch and services like Apple TV all but ensure those customers will keep coming back for more.