surpasses

Published on 28/10/2025 – 16:58 GMT+1
•Updated
16:59

Apple’s stock reached new heights on Tuesday, trading above $269 a share and pushing the company’s market capitalisation to a record $4 trillion (€3.4tr). That followed stronger-than-expected demand for its latest iPhone 17.

The Cupertino-based technology giant therefore joins the elite club with Nvidia and Microsoft, which both surpassed the same valuation earlier this year.

Nvidia, the semiconductor powerhouse, became the first company in history to hit the $4tn milestone in July 2025. News of soaring AI investments and the firm’s strong profit outlook have continued to lift its share price since then, now approaching $4.7tn (€4tn).

The so-called Magnificent Seven, the seven largest publicly traded technology companies in the world, have been cashing in on the AI boom this year, with tech share prices rising accordingly. Since January, Apple shares are up more than 18%, Nvidia’s nearly 40%, and Microsoft’s close to 30%.

However, Apple has mostly stayed out of the race to invest billions in AI projects. Current market enthusiasm for the iPhone maker’s stock instead stems from the successful launch of its updated iPhone range, along with signs of easing trade and tariff pressures.

According to Counterpoint Research, the iPhone 17 series has outsold the iPhone 16 range by 14% during its first ten days on sale in China and the United States.

Five members of the Magnificent Seven, Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta, are reporting earnings this week. They will need to demonstrate strong growth and justify the massive spending currently underway in artificial intelligence, amid growing concerns that the sector may be forming a bubble reminiscent of the dot-com boom that burst in 2000.

According to Kate Leaman, chief market analyst at AvaTrade:”Markets move on leadership, and right now, the leadership of Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, and Apple is inseparable from the risk appetite of investors worldwide.”

She noted that more than 40% of S&P 500 gains this year have come via these giants.

“But with that concentration comes fragility,” she added, saying that even as revenues climb, the commentary provided by executives “will critically frame how far and how confidently the market can chase the AI story into 2026”.

The figure amounts to roughly $111,000 of debt for every person in the US, think tank says.

The United States national debt has topped $38 trillion, as the gap between government spending and revenues in the world’s largest economy expands at a rapid pace.

The US Department of the Treasury included the staggering figure in its latest report on the nation’s finances, with the debt standing at $38,019,813 as of Tuesday.

The figure amounts to roughly $111,000 of debt for every person in the US, and is equivalent to the value of the economies of China, India, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom combined, according to the Peter G Peterson Foundation, a Washington, DC-based think tank.

The milestone comes a little over two months after debt in the US surpassed $37 trillion in mid-August. The debt stood at $36 trillion in November 2024, and $35 trillion that July.

Michael A Peterson, CEO of the Peter G Peterson Foundation, said US lawmakers were failing to live up to their “basic fiscal duties”.

“Adding trillion after trillion to the debt and budgeting-by-crisis is no way for a great nation like America to run its finances,” Peterson said in a statement.

“Instead of letting the debt clock tick higher and higher, lawmakers should take advantage of the many responsible reforms that would put our nation on a stronger path for the future.”

In May, Moody’s ratings downgraded the US government’s credit rating from Aaa to Aa1, citing the failure of successive administrations to “reverse the trend of large annual fiscal deficits and growing interest costs”.

The move followed similar downgrades by rating agencies Fitch and Standard & Poor’s in 2011 and 2023, respectively.

While there is debate among economists about how much debt the US can take on before triggering a financial crisis, there is widespread agreement that the current trajectory is unsustainable.

In a 2023 analysis, economists at the Penn Wharton Budget Model estimated that financial markets would not tolerate US debt levels above 200 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the debt could reach 200 percent of GDP by 2047, in part due to sweeping tax cuts included in US President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The switch in the ranking came after a blockbuster earnings report from Oracle, powered by multibillion-dollar orders, sent Oracle stock shooting up.

Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison has wrested the title of the world’s richest person from longtime holder Elon Musk.

On Wednesday, as stock in Ellison’s software giant rocketed more than a third in a stunning few minutes of trading, Ellison’s net worth surpassed the Tesla CEO, according to wealth tracker Bloomberg. As of 3pm in New York (19:00 GMT), Oracle stock is up 34.4 percent for the day.

Ellison, 81, is now worth $393bn, according to Bloomberg. That is several billion more than Musk, who had been the world’s richest person for four years running. Stock in one of Musk’s biggest holdings, Tesla, has been moving in the opposite direction of Oracle’s, dropping 14 percent so far this year as of Tuesday.

The switch in the ranking came after a blockbuster earnings report from Oracle, powered by multibillion-dollar orders from customers as the AI race heats up.

Ellison’s net worth is largely derived from his 41 percent stake in Oracle.

Another news organisation with a long history of tallying the world’s richest, Forbes, still has Musk at the top, at $439bn. Bloomberg put his net worth at $385bn. The difference is in how the two estimate the value of Musk’s rocket company SpaceX, among other private holdings.

It comes as Tesla shareholders have offered Musk a $1 trillion compensation package.

With Ellison’s surging fortune on Wednesday, he could fund the lifestyles of five million US families for a year, about the entire population of Florida, allowing them to all quit their jobs, assuming the US median household income.

While Isak’s move was one between Premier League clubs, many of the major deals this summer have involved signings from Europe.

Liverpool, for example, brought in Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen for £116m, Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt for £79m, full-back Jeremie Frimpong from Bayer Leverkusen for £29.5m, keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili from Valencia for £29m and Giovanni Leoni from Parma for £26m.

In other headline deals, Arsenal spent a combined £114.5m on bringing in striker Viktor Gyokeres from Sporting and midfielder Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad, while Manchester United signed striker Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig for £73.7m.

Premier League clubs buying players from the European leagues will have contributed to the Bundesliga, La Liga and Ligue 1 finishing the window with a net profit of more than £400m between them.

“We are reaching a situation where the Premier League spending is so far ahead of the others and is so essential to the transfer market ecosystem, that the remaining ‘big five’ competitions are becoming feeder leagues,” said Paul MacDonald of FootballTransfers.com.

“La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 all spent this summer, but it was money they had already generated from sales.

“Put simply there is the ‘Big One’ – the Premier League is such a behemoth it should no longer really be categorised with the other leagues in Europe.”

At least 60,034 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the war on Gaza erupted in October 2023, according to the enclave’s Ministry of Health.

The grim milestone was reached on Tuesday, with medical sources telling Al Jazeera that at least 62 Palestinians, including 19 aid seekers, have been killed since dawn, despite “pauses” in fighting to deliver essential humanitarian aid.

Local accounts indicate that Israel used booby-trapped robots, as well as tanks and drones, in what residents describe as one of the bloodiest nights in recent weeks, said Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

“This is a sign of a possible imminent Israeli ground manoeuvre, although Israel has not yet confirmed the objectives of the attack,” he said.

The latest attacks come as the “worst-case scenario of famine” is unfolding in Gaza, according to a new report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global hunger monitoring system.

“Latest data indicates that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City,” it said in the report.

“Amid relentless conflict, mass displacement, severely restricted humanitarian access, and the collapse of essential services, including healthcare, the crisis has reached an alarming and deadly turning point,” the IPC document added.

Food consumption has sharply deteriorated, with one in three individuals going without food for days at a time, it said.

Malnutrition rose rapidly in the first half of July, with more than 20,000 children being admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition between April and mid-July. More than 3,000 of them are severely malnourished.

The IPC alert comes against the backdrop of its latest analysis released in May, which projected that by September, the entire population of Gaza would face high levels of acute food shortages, with more than 500,000 people expected to be in a state of extreme food deprivation, starvation, and destitution, unless Israel lifts its blockade and stops its military campaign.

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and humanitarian blockade, which it lifted partially in March, continues to plunge the Palestinian territory into an increasingly dire malnutrition crisis as at least 147 people, including 88 children, have died from malnutrition since the start of the war, the Health Ministry said on Monday.

Starvation is affecting all sectors of the population, with Sima Bahous, the executive director of UN Women, saying one million women and girls in Gaza face the “unthinkable choice” of starving or risking their lives while searching for food.

“This horror must end,” Bahous said in a social media post, calling for unhindered access of humanitarian aid into the Strip, the release of captives and a permanent ceasefire.

Babies particularly affected

Medical staff at Gaza’s hospitals are seeing babies severely malnourished “without muscles and fat tissue, just the skin over the bone”, the director of paediatrics and maternity at Nasser Hospital, Ahmed al-Farra, told Al Jazeera.

The long-term consequences of malnutrition for babies, infants and children are severe as they are still developing their central nervous system during the first three years of their lives, said al-Farra.

Babies who have been malnourished will not have the required folic acid, B1 complex and polyunsaturated fatty acids that are essential for the composition of the central nervous system.

Al-Farrah said malnutrition can affect cognitive development in the future, make it hard for a child to read and write, and lead to depression and anxiety.

Tanya Haj Hassan, a doctor with the NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF), explains that serious health risks remain even after food becomes available again.

“The reality is the problem doesn’t end when the food arrives … malnutrition impacts all aspects of the body’s function,” Hassan told Al Jazeera.

“All of the cells in your body are altered by this. In the intestines, the cells die. That results in issues with absorption, with bacteria. Your pancreas struggles; absorbing fats is difficult.

“Your heart cells become weak and thinned. The connections are impacted, the heart rate slows. These children often die of heart failure, even when they’re being refed,” she added.

“They also have life-threatening shifts in salts; these can also lead to fatal heart rhythms. They’re more prone to sepsis and shock,” the doctor said, in reference to oral rehydration salt solutions, which are usually administered to people suffering from malnutrition.

“[Patients can face] low blood pressure, skin lesions, hypothermia, fluid overload, infection, vitamin deficiencies that can affect vision and bone.”

BlackRock’s IBIT ETF has crossed the $70 billion in assets under management threshold following a 31-day inflow streak.

“$IBIT just blew through $70b and is now the fastest ETF to ever hit that mark in only 341 days,” wrote Bloomberg’s ETF analyst Eric Balchunas on X. He also highlighted that it did this 5 times faster than the previous fastest ETF to hit $70 billion, GLD which took 1,691 days.

BlackRock’s appetite for Bitcoin reflects a broader institutional interest in digital assets. Crypto-related US stocks are on a roll this week, as firms including Circle, Core Scientific Inc., and MARA Holdings Inc. all saw major gains on Monday.

Institutional money is flooding the crypto space, creating a butterfly effect as liquidity cycles from major assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum into smaller alternatives, which can provide more substantial gains with less liquidity.

So, what is the best crypto to buy to capitalize on this institutional crypto frenzy?

Bitcoin Hyper

Bitcoin Hyper is a Bitcoin layer 2 that transforms Bitcoin from a store of value to the world’s secure transactional layer.

It’s built the Solana Virtual Machine, which means it integrates the network’s blistering speeds and smart contract functionality. This unlocks a world of new possibilities. Meme coins, DeFi, real-world assets (RWAs), and gaming – it’ll soon all be possible on Bitcoin thanks to Bitcoin Hyper.

Transactions on Bitcoin Hyper will settle on the Bitcoin layer 2 blockchain, yet it is also interoperable with Solana apps and tokens. It’s the best of both worlds, and it’s brand new to market.

The project launched a presale less than one week ago and has already raised a staggering $1 million.

This doesn’t just confirm product-market fit; it reflects investors’ deep conviction. And that signifies that $HYPER is primed for huge gains. Visit Bitcoin Hyper

Dogecoin

Solaxy

That’s where Solaxy comes in. It’s building the first-ever Solana layer 2 blockchain. It’ll use off-chain computation and transaction bundling technology to make the network even more scalable. Its goal is to achieve 10,000 transactions per second.

If it achieves its goal, it’ll enable more adoption and could even unlock new use cases.

Right now, the project is undergoing a presale. It has raised $46 million so far, making it the largest Solana presale ever.

With such early success and a robust use case, it certainly appears that $SOLX could prove the best crypto to buy now. However, the presale will end in six days, so potential investors should act quickly. Visit Solaxy.

Ondo

Best Wallet Token

Best Wallet Token is the new cryptocurrency that powers Best Wallet, a promising new crypto wallet.

The project is all about making on-chain transacting simple, and also ensuring its users get the most out of their on-chain activity. It supports over 90 blockchains, meaning users can access virtually any cryptocurrency on any network from a single app.

It also boasts a fleet of integrated features, including a cross-chain DEX, a crypto debit card, fiat on-ramping, derivatives trading, a presale aggregator, and more. Users can access all these features without needing to manage multiple apps. This doesn’t just save time; it also protects against phishing scams, a significant problem in the crypto industry.

The $BEST token provides benefits like trading fee discounts, higher staking yields, governance rights, and access to promotions on partner projects. It’s currently undergoing a presale and has raised over $13 million to date.

With innate utility, a market-leading use case, and its current early-stage status, it appears everything is in place for $BEST to explode. Visit Best Wallet.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not provide financial advice. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, and the market can be unpredictable. Always perform thorough research before making any cryptocurrency-related decisions.