Good Evening! While investors awaited the latest banking sector developments after the sale of Silicon Valley Bank, U.S. equities declined on Tuesday as bond rates continued to extend gains.
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones both decreased by 0.16% and 0.12% respectively. However, the Nasdaq Composite declined the most by 0.45%.
TAKE IT WITH A GRAIN OF SALT
After a rumor that e-commerce behemoth Amazon.com Inc (AMZN) was interested in acquiring the theater chain, shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (AMC) surged as much as 21% on Tuesday.
That may also be the ideal moment to do it… With the easing of pandemic limitations, movie theaters have struggled to attract audiences, as rising expenses push individuals to spend less on out-of-home entertainment and more on food and rent. In addition, this play for AMC comes at a time when Amazon and Apple aim to spend more than $1 billion annually to develop movies for theatrical distribution, according to a Bloomberg article (Read more here).
This is not the first time for Amazon. Amazon concluded its $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM in 2018, adding the studio behind “Rocky” and “James Bond” to its Prime Video streaming service in response to rising competition.
HERE COMES APPLE
With the debut of Apple Pay Later, Apple (AAPL) is officially entering the purchase now, pay later market. Apple Pay Later enables users to request loans ranging from $50 to $1,000 to make online or in-app purchases with their iPhones or iPads.
How does it work? Those who utilize Apple Pay Later will have their purchases divided into four installments over a period of six weeks. In one example, Apple displays a $125 transaction as four $31.27 payments spread over six weeks.
How does it benefit Apple? The company’s entry into the purchase now, pay later market is intended to increase its services revenue. Services were Apple’s second biggest revenue source in 2022, generating $78.1 billion of the company’s $394 billion in sales. The iPhone, Apple’s flagship product, generated $205.4 billion.