Breakfast News: iPhone Sales Surge; What's Next?

Breakfast News: iPhone Sales Surge; What’s Next?

January 30, 2026

Source: Image created by Jester AI.

1. Apple Smashes Sales but Cost Fears Loom

**Apple **(AAPL 0.73%) was relatively unchanged in pre-market trading after posting record quarterly sales and an upbeat outlook, although concerns around rising component costs kept a lid on investor enthusiasm.

• “iPhone had its best-ever quarter driven by unprecedented demand, with all-time records across every geographic segment”: CEO Tim Cook pointed to the latest iPhone as being a major contributor to the results, as the product line accounts for around half its overall revenue.
• “We do continue to see market pricing for memory increasing significantly”: Cook warned the higher cost of memory would negatively impact margins for the coming quarter, with tariff impacts being another headwind.

2. Futures Fall as Warsh Eyed for Fed Chair

President Trump has nominated Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh to be the next central bank chair, pushing S&P 500 futures down over 0.7% in early trade.

• “It’s going to be somebody that is very respected, somebody that’s known to everybody in the financial world”: Trump’s comments sent stocks lower, with both the U.S. dollar and Treasury bond yields moving higher as Warsh is seen as a more conventional pick and less of an extreme dovish candidate.
• Complicated path ahead to get confirmation in the U.S. Senate: The ongoing investigation into the central bank’s headquarters renovation could cause any nomination to be delayed, given the potential indictment of current Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

3. DECK and SNDK Lead Pre-Market Movers

• **Deckers **(DECK 0.33%) rocketed almost 15% higher ahead of the opening bell thanks to results showing higher demand for key brands including HOKA and UGG. The Hidden Gems recommendation was praised by Motley Fool co-founder and CEO Tom Gardner in September, who stated “as long as Deckers can continue following its playbook and generating consumer demand, things look good for the rising footwear star.”
• **SanDisk **(SNDK 1.91%) jumped over 15% in early trade as greater customer adoption of products in the datacenter segment saw overall revenue increase 61% versus last year. The stock is now up an incredible 1,400% in the past year.
• **Visa **(V 1.12%), a Stock Advisor rec by Team Hidden Gems, fell a little over 1% in pre-market action as quarterly earnings revealed a 27% increase in operating expenses. Investors took some comfort from the continued trend of higher payments volume.

4. AI Race Expands to Public Markets

The WSJ reports OpenAI is planning a fourth-quarter IPO, with rival Perplexity signing a $750 million deal with Microsoft (MSFT +0.69%), as the battle over market dominance in the AI start-up world continues.

• The $500-billion-valued company is strengthening corporate finance ties: OpenAI’s recent hires include a chief accounting officer and an investor relations manager, with an IPO likely helping to ease concerns about company finances amid high infrastructure commitments.
• Perplexity diversifies access for cloud services: The new deal with Microsoft allows it to deploy more AI models, a move seen as reducing reliance on its existing preferred infrastructure partner, Amazon (AMZN +0.56%).

5. Your Take

Dividend Investor rec Chevron (CVX +1.56%) reported this morning, with the share price down close to 1% after both revenue and profit fell versus the year prior. The stock is beating the S&P 500 by 3% since the September 2025 recommendation. The primary goal of DI is to help construct a portfolio of dividend-paying companies that can deliver outsized total returns, while also paying a steady, sizable income stream for the rest of one’s life.

Do you reinvest your dividends to compound your returns, or do you rely on them as income for living expenses? Has your approach changed over time, and do you expect it will change in the future?

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