Legal Issue Against Google, New Record of Apple Shares, and Biden's Anti-Monopoly Decree
4 minutes for reading
Last week was full of news, so enjoy a digest of the most interesting events today. 36 states sued Alphabet, Apple shares hit record, and US President signed an anti-monopoly law that will definitely make the lives of IT giants harder. Seems interesting? I told you. Let's get started.
Why have Americans sued Alphabet?
According to Politico, on July 7th, 36 states and district Columbia took Google to federal court, accusing the company of breachinh the anti-monopoly law. They claim that the IT giant captured 90% of the market of mobile apps for Android, "choking" other app shows, hindering their advancing and popularity.
The plaintiffs drive the attention to the fact that Alphabet does not let users install apps from other shops via Google Play. Moreover, such shops cannot buy advertising from Google and YouTube. Next thing, they recalled the cases when the company for no good reason doubted the safety of apps from other shops.
Also, an old pain came to the surface: previously, app designers pay a 30% commission fee for each sale inside their product. Mind that starting July 1st, the fee decreases to 15%, but only for the first million USD earned by the company.
On July 8th, on the next day after the news spread in the media, Alphabet shares (NASDAQ: GOOGLE) dropped by 1.13% to $2500.9. During the trading session, the quotations fell even deeper — to $2483.5.
What record have Apple stocks set?
On July 9th, the stock price of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) reached $145.65 during the trading session, and this is a new high. Previous high was at $145.09. This result was reached on January 25th this year.
According to Bloomberg, Wall Street experts are confident that Apple stocks will keep growing. Samik Chatterjee, a JPMorgan analyst, changed the target price from $165 to $170. Dan Ives, a Wed bush analyst, thinks that in 2022 the capitalization of Apple will rise over $3 trillion. Now it equals $2.43 trillion.
The reason for this idea is the confidence that the sales of Apple devices, including the expected iPhone 13, will grow.
What decree has President Biden signed?
On July 9th, Joe Biden signed a decree aimed chiefly at countering the attempts of large corporations, including tech giants, to create monopolies. The decree contains 72 initiatives for 10 federal agencies.
Now the lives of big-tech representatives will attract even more attention of regulators. This will be specially true for mergers, rivalry, and data collection.
Quite a coincidence that a couple of days later, on July 12th, the ministers of finance of G20 signed a declaration about the introduction of an international minimal tax (at least 15%) on the profit of transnational corporations, especially tech companies. This agreement is yet to be ratified in October. It seems that IT giants are going to start a new and interesting stage of existence.
Tech analysis of Alphabet and Apple shares by Maksim Artyomov
"Renewing their all-time highs, Google shares are forming a correctional wave. As long as the quotations are still inside the ascending channel, I suppose that the uptrend should continue in the nearest future. Regardless of the lawsuits, the potential for growth is high. The aim for the correction is the support level of $2, 423. In the future, Alphabet shares might reach $2, 600. The growth is confirmed by the 200-days Moving Average".
" On D1, Apple shares keep growing. Renewing all-time highs, the quotations are testing new tops. As long as the price keeps moving inside the ascending channel, the uptrend should continue. The growth is confirmed by the 200-days MA that always remains under the price. The aim of the growth is at $155. A correctional wave before the test of this level is also possible".
Summing up
Last week was under the flag of fighting monopolies of tech corporations. On July 7th, 36 states sued Alphabet, accusing it of breaching the anti-monopoly legislation. On July 9th, Joe Biden signed a decree on protection from rivalry and monopoly of big-techs of the USA. However, on the same day, the shares of Apple that will also fall prey to the decree, set a new price record.
