Diamonds and Dogs

6/4/18

Apple (AAPL) closing in on a trillion. Apple is up a percent to new highs raising its market cap to $945 billion. Apple's CEO Tim Cook is conducting their worldwide developers conference. Apple now has 20 million registered developers on iOS, and collectively they have made about $100 billion in revenues, with the App Store bringing in some 500 million visitors per week. The money that developers have earned through the App Store will top $100 billion. The figures underscore how Apple's attention has continued to swing more firmly into its developer ecosystem and app marketplace, which is becoming a stronger engine of revenue generation as overall smartphone purchasing slows down.

Drug maker,  Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) is down 42% after a disappointing weekend data on a combination phase 1 & 2 trial of its lead medicine with Bristol-Myers Squibb & Co.'s immune-boosting cancer drug, Opdivo. The drug makers are pushing hard on cancer combos due to their enormous potential, but unfortunately, so far this combo has not shown improvements in patients. The two companies are still moving full-steam ahead into bigger-final stage trials. However, the results improve.