Apple, Uber and Elections Headline Week

Can Apple, Uber and Palantir turn this stock market around? It sure needs it. Worries about excessive AI spending tanked Google’s stock last week and sent the Nasdaq Composite to its worst month since March 2025. While the major indexes are still in the green for the year, a few more days like Friday’s could change that. Fortunately, we have a handful of earnings that might temper the gloom.

Palantir Technologies, which reports Monday, has told investors to expect an 83% jump in the third quarter from the year-ago period. That’s a slowdown from the second quarter’s blistering 93% growth. But at least investors will get a reprieve from enormous capital expenditures. Palantir only spent $22 million in capex in the first half.

As for Apple, it’s already warned investors that supply constraints for advanced chip manufacturing would contribute to slower revenue growth, to a range of 9% to 11% in the September quarter from a year ago, slower than its 16% growth in the June quarter. Apple has also forecast iPhone revenue growth in the mid-teens versus 22% in the June quarter. An improvement on that outlook could buoy the mood. On the other hand, a sharper slowdown in growth from either companies could give investors another reason to sell tech stocks.

Here’s what else is going on…

Ternus’ Turn

When the iPhone maker reports results late Monday, it will be the first time new CEO John Ternus will lead the conference call. Ternus, Apple’s former senior vice president of hardware engineering, got off to a fast start after he took the torch from Tim Cook, Apple’s long-running CEO, who is now executive chair.

In just the last two months, Apple announced three notable new products—an iPhone with a folding screen, a MacBook with a touchscreen and the HomeView, a tabletlike smart home device. The first two products, which followed designs popular with competitors like smartphone maker Samsung and laptop maker Lenovo, were a sign of a new Apple adventurousness under Ternus (though the products were almost certainly greenlit some time ago under his predecessor).

But brand-new products have a habit of glitching at the start, even for a company with superlative manufacturing processes (anyone remember Antennagate or Bendgate?). In recent weeks, media reports have highlighted cracks in the Duo’s wide folding screen and other operational issues. Apple’s announcement last week that the new MacBook Pro with a touchscreen would cost at least $2,899—a whopping $900 more than the version without a touchscreen—will likely hold some buyers back.

As for the HomeView, I’ll be curious if enough households think a $299 standing tablet is really that necessary—or if they can get by with how most people use FaceTime, change songs and watch videos while they putter in the kitchen: by propping the phone against the mayonnaise jar (additional cost: zero).

• Uber reports quarterly results Wednesday. Uber has already been in the news recently, thanks to Instacart’s agreement to sell to DoorDash for $17 billion in cash and stock. As Valida reported last week, Instacart leaders had shopped the company to Uber. But those talks fizzled, in part because Uber had just recently announced another big acquisition, a $15 billion deal for Europe-based Delivery Hero, and was also worried that an acquisition would hit antitrust hurdles. Uber has forecast that gross bookings—the value of dollars spent on its various apps—will rise in a range from $58.25 billion to $60.25 billion, with the median up 19% from the same period last year.

• Tuesday midterm elections. Tech heads to the polls in a variety of ways Tuesday. As Shane reported this morning, in 21 of the 36 states electing a governor on Tuesday, at least one major-party nominee backs a data center moratorium. And that’s not all. An expected return to a Democratic majority in Congress could increase headaches for large tech companies like Meta Platforms, Nvidia and Amazon if Democrats decide to hold oversight hearings into their executives’ work with the Trump administration, as this Politico article details. Even a blue sweep wouldn’t overcome Trump’s veto power, meaning any potential AI legislative pushes next term will likely still need his support.

We’ll also be watching the outcome of California’s Proposition 40, the so-called billionaire’s tax. Several well-known tech CEOs have lambasted the proposition—or protested by moving their zip code out of state—but probably more notably, the measure has lost ground after a number of large groups like the state teachers’ union have also criticized it. Abe has more here.

Laura Mandaro is an editor in San Francisco who supports our reporters covering venture capital, startups and artificial intelligence. She can be contacted at [email protected].