There have been promises of Donald Trump’s presidency improving the U.S. economy, but a report from Source ETF — one of the leading exchange-traded fund product providers in Europe — believes stocks are “unlikely to perform better” during the four-year tenure.
It was a busy weekend, with companies such as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) and Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) making headlines.
Here’s what went down ahead of Monday’s trading action:
Apple Inc. (AAPL)
Apple is in the midst of a controversial move that will limit the number of apps available to consumers in Iran.
The company has reportedly been pulling Iranian apps from the App Store. The App Store was first opened in the Middle Eastern country a few months ago in September 2016.
At first, there were numerous restrictions governing the Store, but Apple was slowly removing these. However, a credible tech news site called Techrasa said an popular Iranian e-commerce service Digikala had its app removed from the App Store.
The app had more than a million users. One fact worth noting is that there is no official App Store for the territory of Iran, but many companies manage to sell their apps to consumers in Iran by registering their app as being outside the country.
The country has about 40 million smartphones in use, which amounts to roughly half of the 82 million population using devices.
AAPL shares have risen 5.3% year-to-date.
BlackBerry Ltd (BBRY)
BlackBerry is looking for one last hurrah in the smartphone industry with its Mercury device.
The company has managed to survive going under by slowly transitioning from a hardware maker to a software provider. While the Mercury isn’t even technically manufactured by BlackBerry, the company still had a hand in the creation of device.
The gadget recently made an appearance in Last Man Standing, an ABC sitcom starring Tim Allen. The actor’s character — Michael Baxter — is seen rocking the Mercury ahead of the product’s release.
In fact, Baxter is seen using the phone several times and there are some close-ups that give the audience some idea of what it looks like when in use. BlackBerry’s latest smartphone will be unveiled at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month.
Allen is a fan of the company’s phones, but it is unclear if the decision to use it on the show was his idea or a decision made by one of the producers.
BBRY shares have slipped 5.4% over the past six months.
Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL)
Delta faced a headache over the weekend as the company had to cancel a number of U.S. flights.
The airline experienced a number of technological problems that resulted in the cancellation of numerous flights stateside. Its international flights were unaffected.
The Federal Aviation Administration said “automation issues” are to blame for the incident. Delta connected with the public via Twitter (NYSE:TWTR), noting that its systems were down.
“The IT department is working to rectify the situation as soon as possible,” the company wrote. The computer glitch comes at a time when airlines are scrambling to comply with new travel restrictions due to President Donald Trump’s recent executive order restricting Muslims from entering the country.
Delta is the second largest airline in the U.S.
DAL shares have wafted up 1% in the first month of 2017.
