To The Moon

This week, traders have focused on the big events of technology companies. Apple has unveiled its highly anticipated iPhone 15; Morgan Stanley upgraded Tesla's Stock rating and raised the price target; Arm Holdings started trading on the Nasdaq; UAW strike hit Ford, GM, Stellantis plants.

Here are the key events that happened in the tech sector during the week:

Apple reveals its highly anticipated iPhone 15

Apple introduced its latest iPhones at an event Tuesday, banking on new materials, camera upgrades and improved performance to coax back consumers in a sluggish smartphone market.

The company unveiled four new models, keeping pace with the past few generations: the iPhone 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max. Like last year, the entry-level models start at $799. The Pro version will remain $999, but the Pro Max will now begin at $1,199 — up $100 from last year’s installment.

In addition to the iPhone, new Apple Watches were unveiled at the event, with a focus on eco-friendly materials. But most of the details of the presentation were previously reported, and investors gave a lukewarm response to the news. The shares slipped 1.7% on Tuesday and dropped 1.8% this week.

Four iPhone 15 models became available for preorder on Friday in more than 40 countries, following their introduction at an event Tuesday. The high-end Pro Max model, which starts at $1,199, quickly saw its promised delivery slip from Sept. 22 to as late as mid-November in the US.

Shipment times for the blue and black iPhone Pro Max models slipped until as late as Oct. 16, while the natural and white models were delayed until Nov. 13. Delays affected all storage capacities of the iPhone 15 Pro Max, a version that features a revamped camera and larger screen. The orders got underway at 5 a.m. in California.

China saw shipment times slip until November for all iPhone 15 Pro Max models, while standard iPhone 15 Pro versions have three- to four-week waits.

Canada is seeing six- to seven-week wait times for the iPhone 15 Pro Max, while Australia, Japan, the UK, India, Canada, France and Germany had delays of as much as eight weeks for the iPhone 15 Pro Max in natural titanium. These lags could continue to grow as preorders are placed.

Morgan Stanley Upgrades Tesla Stock Rating, Raises Price Target to $400

Tesla's shares jumped more than 10% Monday after Morgan Stanley analysts upgraded the stock, citing the potential of the supercomputer that Tesla is developing. The shares jumped 10.4% this week. Tesla's share price has doubled this year but is well off its all-time intraday high of $414.

The Morgan Stanley team raised their price target on Tesla shares by 60% to $400, from $250, and recommended investors move to an "overweight" holding.

The team includes Adam Jonas, one of the highest-profile Tesla analysts. The new price target is the most-bullish on Wall Street, according to FactSet data.

Tesla has been building a supercomputer, dubbed Dojo, to analyze vast amounts of visual data in order to train its electric vehicles to drive autonomously.

Dojo could add $500 billion to Tesla's enterprise value, the Morgan Stanley analysts said.

SoftBank's Arm valued at $54.5 billion in year's biggest IPO

After a nearly two-year drought in the IPO market, UK-based chip designer Arm made a successful Nasdaq debut on Thursday, finishing the day 25% higher and landing the company with a market cap of around $65 billion. The chip designer’s shares jumped 8.5% at the open on Friday, then swung between gains and losses before ending the day at their session low, down 4.5%.

Arm options will be available to trade on Monday, the first time contracts are offered within two trading days of a company’s initial public offering.

Nasdaq confirmed in an email that recent changes have enabled securities that meet certain criteria to have options listed on the second day after their IPO, compared with the old standard of four days. ARM is the first company to which the new standards will be applied, according to the exchange.

The strong open marks the largest initial public offering this year — and the biggest since electric truck maker Rivian in 2021.

Arm’s strong debut will raise hopes for two venture-backed tech IPOs due in the next few days: Maplebear, parent of the grocery delivery company Instacart, and Klaviyo, the e-commerce marketing automation software company. If those also go well, a flood of additional offerings could follow.

UAW workers launch unprecedented strike against all Big Three automakers

Nearly 13,000 U.S. auto workers went on strike early Friday after the Big Three and the United Auto Workers failed to reach an agreement before their national contract expired just before midnight.

UAW President Shawn Fain called the targeted strike at a Ford Motor plant in Michigan, a General Motors, plant in Missouri and a Stellantis NV plant in Ohio. A strike at all three U.S. car makers is a break with tradition, as the union for many years has elected to center strike efforts at one company to protect its strike fund and picket-line firepower. Fain said the union could add more plants to strike as part of its strategy to keep the auto makers guessing, and urged all 150,000 UAW members to be ready if and when they’re called to strike.

The United Auto Workers said it plans to resume bargaining on Saturday after launching its first simultaneous strikes at General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler parent Stellantis, with effects of the limited shutdown starting to spread on Friday.

EU Starts Anti-Subsidy Probe Into Chinese Electric Vehicles

The European Union is launching an investigation into Chinese subsidies for electric vehicles as the bloc frets over the ability of its industry to compete.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the probe Wednesday, saying that the global market is flooded with cheap Chinese cars.

“Their price is kept artificially low by huge state subsidies. This is distorting our market,” the head of the EU’s executive arm said in her annual speech to the European Parliament. “And as we do not accept this distortion from the inside in our market, we do not accept this from the outside.”

Chinese EV makers NIO stock dropped 4.7% on Wednesday, XPeng slid 3.1% and Li Auto dipped 0.5%. Their shares finally eliminated losses this week with NIO up 3.9%, XPeng up 5.5% and Li Auto up 5.9%.

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