Why Apple Stock Jumped on Alphabet's Big Day -- and Why Investors Should Care

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock rose several percent earlier this week, after a federal judge issued remedies in the government's search antitrust case against Alphabet's (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google that stop short of breaking up core search and advertising-related assets or banning Google's default search engine deals. The ruling, for instance, leaves intact the multibillion-dollar arrangement that makes Google the default on Apple devices -- a high-margin revenue stream that investors in the iPhone-maker have worried could be curtailed. The market's read-through was simple: Alphabet's win reduces uncertainty for Apple, which reportedly receives around tens of billions of dollars annually from Alphabet to keep Google Search as the default on Safari. Those traffic-acquisition payments have long been a quiet but meaningful contributor to Apple's Services economics, so clarity on their continuation helps sentiment toward the stock.For context, Alphabet shares also rose on the news, underscoring how central these agreements are across the ecosystem.Apple investors can now pivot from "Will the deal be killed?" to "What does Apple's business look like with the deal preserved?"Continue readingWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool