Last night, Apple and Microsoft competed with each other, and Apple eventually surpassed Microsoft with a market value approaching $3.5 trillion, returning to the top spot in the US stock market. On the news side, some media reports suggest that Apple has raised its iPhone 16 series stocking guidelines. Previously, Apple's series of layouts led the market to believe that it was expected to boost the weak iPhone sales since the beginning of this year.
The news of Lilly's acquisition of American biopharmaceutical company Morphic directly ignited Morphic's stock price. On Monday local time, Morphic's stock price surged by 75%. Morphic CEO Praveen Tipirneni stated that the company believes that its developed MORF-057 drug has enormous potential in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, and through cooperation with Lilly, this potential can be further optimized.
Overall, on July 8th local time, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 index continued to reach historic highs, while the Dow failed to maintain its upward momentum and closed slightly lower. As of the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.08% to 39344.79 points; The S&P 500 index rose 0.10% to close at 5572.85 points; The Nasdaq rose 0.28% to close at 18403.74 points.
Apple's market value returns to the top spot in the US stock market
On Monday local time, after a brief correction, Apple's stock price quickly rose and ultimately closed up 0.65% at $227.82 per share, with a market value approaching $3.5 trillion, surpassing Microsoft and returning to the top spot in the US stock market.
On July 8th, according to media reports, it was learned from insiders in the Apple industry chain that the company has recently received a slight increase in the stocking target for the iPhone 16 series. After the increase, the stocking target for the iPhone 16 series this year is around 90 million units.
Another Apple industry chain company official stated that Apple has indeed slightly increased its iPhone 16 series stocking target guidance recently.
An executive from an Apple industry chain company analyzed that during the domestic "618" e-commerce promotion in June, Apple adopted a price reduction promotion strategy. After the price reduction of the iPhone 15 series, sales significantly increased, which may have boosted Apple's sales expectations for the iPhone 16 series.
Recently, at the 2024 Apple Developer Conference, Apple launched Apple Intelligence, which means its intelligent voice assistant Siri's capabilities have been comprehensively improved. In this regard, China Merchants Securities believes that Apple's AI is only supported from the iPhone 15 Pro series, which is expected to drive old users to switch phones. It is expected that overall iPhone shipments in 2024 will be relatively stable or only have a single digit decline, and combined with subsequent innovative models, Apple's shipment volume is expected to continue to rise from 2025 to 2027.
Previously, at the WWDC conference, Apple officially launched its personal intelligence system, Apple Intelligence, stating that it will be deeply integrated into new generation systems such as iOS 18. This indicates that the iPhone 16 series pre installed with iOS 18 will bring new AI features at the autumn launch event, which is expected to attract many users to upgrade and upgrade, boosting weak iPhone sales this year.
American biopharmaceutical company Morphic's stock price surged 75%
A heavyweight acquisition news in the pharmaceutical industry has driven the company's stock price to take off.
On July 8th local time, the stock price of American biopharmaceutical company Morphic surged by 75%. On the news front, Lilly announced its acquisition of American biopharmaceutical company Morphic for approximately $3.2 billion to obtain experimental therapies for treating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and other chronic diseases.
Two companies have announced that Lilly will acquire Morphic, headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, for $57 per share, a price 79% higher than last Friday's closing price.
According to the agreement, Lilly will initiate a tender offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Morphic. After the tender offer is completed, Lilly will proceed with a second step merger to acquire the remaining Morphic shares in the tender offer for the same consideration, totaling approximately $3.2 billion.
This transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies and is not subject to any financing conditions. It is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2024.
Last year, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Omvoh produced by Eli Lilly for use in adult patients with ulcerative colitis. This is also one of Eli Lilly's most marketable drugs besides Mounjaro and Zepbound.
Morphic CEO Praveen Tipirneni stated that the company believes that its developed MORF-057 drug has enormous potential in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, and through cooperation with Lilly, this potential can be further optimized.
Nasdaq and S&P 500 continue to hit new highs
Overnight, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 continued to hit historic highs, while the Dow failed to hold on to its gains and closed slightly lower. As of the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 31.08 points, a decrease of 0.08%, to 39344.79 points; The S&P 500 index rose 5.66 points, or 0.10%, to 5572.85 points; The Nasdaq rose 50.98 points, or 0.28%, to 18403.74 points.
Large tech stocks fluctuated, with Nvidia rising more than 1% and Tesla achieving 9 consecutive days of gains; Meta fell nearly 2%, while Google, Microsoft, and Amazon fell less than 1%.
The computer hardware and semiconductor sectors saw the highest gains, with TSMC's stock price rising by over 1%, reaching a historic high. The total market value during the trading session once exceeded one trillion US dollars; Ultra Micro Computers, Nano Semiconductors, Intel, and AngoMeng rose by over 6%, Dell Technologies rose by over 5%, AMD rose by nearly 4%, and HP and Logitech rose by over 1%.
Shipping, other industrial metals, and mining saw the largest decline, with American Silver Company falling more than 5%, Steagas Shipping falling more than 3%, Genco Shipping Trading falling nearly 2%, and Vale and BHP Billiton falling more than 1%.
Popular Chinese concept stocks generally fell, with the Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index falling 1.05%. Futu Holdings fell more than 7%, Xiaopeng Motors fell nearly 6%, NIO fell more than 3%, iQiyi fell more than 2%, Alibaba, Weibo, Ideal Automobile, Baidu, Pinduoduo, and JD.com fell more than 1%, while Manbang, Vipshop, NetEase, and Tencent Music saw a slight decline. Bilibili rose by over 2%.
