John Ternus took over as Apple's chief executive on Monday, ending Tim Cook's fifteen-year run at the same moment Brent crude breached ninety dollars a barrel and the Federal Trade Commission accused Amazon of extracting more than twenty billion dollars in hidden advertising surcharges. Stock futures slipped to open September, a month that has historically punished equity holders, while the ten-year Treasury yield climbed to its highest level since January 2025.
The Apple handoff
Cook moved to executive chairman after a decade and a half that saw the company's market value swell from roughly three hundred fifty billion dollars to over three trillion. Ternus, previously senior vice president of hardware engineering, made only a brief appearance on last month's earnings call before Monday's formal handover. His first public test arrives next week at the annual launch event, where the new iPhone and Apple Watch lineup will debut without Cook on stage for the first time since 2011. Cook's parting post on X read: "My title changes tomorrow, but the love I have for the Apple community never will."
Oil and yields
Brent jumped above ninety dollars after U.S. and Iranian strikes reescalated the conflict and a tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz was hit by three projectiles, according to UK Maritime Trade Operations. The move pushed global bond yields higher on inflation concerns. President Trump told reporters a Venezuela oil deal would lower fuel prices, though industry experts told CNBC it would take years to raise Venezuelan output and the agreement may not survive that long. Trump meets U.S. refiners and distributors today to press for lower pump prices. Despite the oil drag, all three major indexes logged gains for August.
The Amazon case
The FTC and twenty-two state attorneys general filed suit Monday alleging Amazon "secretly and systematically overcharged" advertisers through auction manipulation dating to a 2019 rule change. The complaint estimates hidden surcharges at more than twenty billion dollars. FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said those costs "were largely passed on to American consumers." Amazon called the suit "misguided" and said it "fundamentally misunderstands how advertisers operate." Shares fell two and a half percent in Monday's session.
G20 growth talk
Finance ministers continue meeting in North Carolina today. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters the United States must "grow our way out" of its debt pile. Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh described the current period as "one of secular growth" and "one of a global investment surge." Asked about Stanley Druckenmiller's criticism of Treasury bond-market intervention, Bessent replied that the billionaire "changes his mind a lot."