Investing

Morning Blast: Apple's Headset, Wheat in Ukraine, Corn in the Midwest

Paul Ausick

Published: June 6, 2023 9:06 am

Premarket action on Monday had the three major U.S. indexes trading roughly flat. The Dow Jones industrials were down 0.09%, the S&P 500 down 0.08% and the Nasdaq 0.07% lower.

Hopes were high for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Monday morning. The stock rose to an all-time high of nearly $185 before the company announced its $3,500 Vision Pro mixed reality headset and a number of other new products, including a new 15-inch MacBook Air, an updated Mac Studio desktop and a surprise announcement of an updated MacPro workstation.

Investors seem to have caught on to the chatter that it is likely to take some time for the headset to catch on. The price needs to come down, and a killer app needs to appear. Porn is likely to lead to the next big thing, but nobody knows what that big thing is yet.

One company that got a shot in the arm from the announcement was Unity Software Inc. (NYSE: U). Apple announced a partnership with the game developer, and Unity’s stock jumped more than 17% for the day and traded up another 3% Tuesday morning.

And just to keep AI at top of mind, GitLab Inc. (NASDAQ: GTLB) reported quarterly results that beat analysts’ estimates and issued upbeat guidance after markets closed Monday. The company announced a new AI-based platform a week ago. Shares traded up almost 30% in Tuesday’s premarket.

Wheat prices jumped 3% Tuesday following news that a dam in Ukraine had been destroyed. Ukraine is the world’s top exporter of wheat. The government is blaming the Russians, a charge the Russians have turned on its head and blamed Ukraine for.

Bloomberg reported that the breached dam is not near the three Ukrainian ports that the two combatants agreed to leave open in order to get Ukraine wheat to market. However, the flood waters threaten people, homes and transportation infrastructure. Flooded fields also present a challenge to military movement and maneuvering.

In the United States, the latest report from the Department of Agriculture now estimates that just 64% of the country’s corn crop is in good-to-excellent condition. That is a drop of 5% since last month. The decline is down to continuing drought across the Midwest. Corn traded up about 2% early Tuesday morning, with commercial hedgers creating the most action.

Here is a look at how U.S. markets fared on Monday.

Seven of 11 market sectors closed lower on Monday. Industrials (−0.71%) and energy (−0.58%) had the day’s largest losses. Communications services (0.58%) and utilities (0.45%) posted the day’s best gains. The Dow closed down 0.59%, the S&P 500 down 0.20% and the Nasdaq down 0.09% on Monday.

Two-year Treasuries dropped four basis points to end Monday at 4.46%, and 10-year notes closed unchanged at 3.69%. In Tuesday’s premarket, two-year notes were trading at around 4.47% and 10-year notes at about 3.68%.