Apple’s John Ternus speaks during Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Jose, California on June 5, 2017.
Stephen Lam | Reuters
Hello, this is Hui Jie writing to you from Singapore, while Léonie prepares for CNBC’s CONVERGE LIVE event, featuring names like former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Capital Group CEO Mike Gitlin.
Apple is undergoing its second leadership change since Steve Jobs, with CEO Tim Cook set to be replaced by John Ternus to lead the world’s second-most valuable company.
Geopolitical tensions continue to simmer in Iran, with Iranian officials and U.S. President Donald Trump trading threats as a ceasefire deadline approaches.
Appreciate!
What you need to know todayAppleCEO Tim Cook has found the new apple of his eye, if you’ll pardon the pun.
Starting September 1, Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering John Ternus take the reins of Cook, while Cook will be named executive chairman of Apple.
Ternus will have huge shoes to fill: Under Cook’s leadership, Apple has grown more than 20 times in market capitalization.
Far from the world of technology, US markets fell and Asian markets were mixed as geopolitical tensions continued to simmer. South Korea’s Kospi was a notable exception, having reached a record level Tuesday.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf appeared to up the ante by a post on social media Tuesday, criticizing the US president Donald Trump for having “imposed a siege and violated the ceasefire” and for having sought to transform the negotiations into “a capitulation table or to justify new warmongering”.
Trump, for his part, continues to brandish sabers against Iran, threatening Iran with overwhelming military force, claiming “lots of bombs [will] start to leave” if no agreement is reached before the expiration of a precarious ceasefire with Tehran, set for Wednesday evening.
His rhetoric contrasts sharply with reports that a US delegation is preparing to return to Pakistan for a possible second round of peace talks. The delegation “plans to travel to Islamabad soon,” a source close to the matter told CNBC.
However, some analysts suggest that the market may have left the Iranian conflict behind it, notably CNBC’s Jim Cramer.
Oil prices have fallen Tuesday during Asian hours, with West Texas Intermediate futures for May delivery lost 1.85% to $87.95 a barrel, while the international benchmark Brent Crude futures for June delivery slipped 1.1% to $94.41 a barrel.
In the United States, the Trump administration has deployed a tariff complaint filing portal linked to approximately 160 billion dollars in reimbursementsafter the Supreme Court struck down a cornerstone of Trump’s trade policy.
-Lim Hui Jie
And finally…Nvidia Supplier Victory Giant Sees Shares Soar 60% in Hong Kong Debut
Actions in Giant Victory Technology surged 60% on Tuesday, following the Chinese company’s blockbuster IPO – the largest in Hong Kong this year.
The Chinese company, which supplies circuit boards to Nvidia, priced its shares at HK$209.88 in its IPO. Shares were last trading up 46% at HK$306.8.
Victory Giant had raised about HK$20.1 billion ($2.57 billion) in the city’s biggest listing in about seven months. This is Victory Giant Hong Kong’s largest IPO since Zijin Gold InternationalThe $3.2 billion IPO in September.
— Justina Lee