Market Miscellany: Apple changes its core, as AI assigns the roles

Published: 2026-04-30 09:28:31 ET CHGG

Artificial intelligence is writing two opposing stories in the same week. It is crushing Chegg, forced into a turnaround after a 99% collapse, while simultaneously propelling the S&P 500 to new records amid renewed enthusiasm for AI stocks. In the middle, Apple is changing its core, to meet the challenge it embodies: a nearly 4 trillion dollar giant, albeit lagging in the AI race, it still needs to prove that it can still innovate.

Esteban Gustave

Published on 04/30/2026 at 09:28 am EDT

Chegg: the first emblematic victim of AI disruption

Chegg built a profitable model by helping students with their homework and renting out textbooks. Although the arrival of ChatGPT in late 2022 changed everything: the stock has been obliterated, losing nearly 99% of its value, falling below one dollar, for a market capitalization of approximately $120m, compared with $11bn at its peak in 2020.

With its back against the ropes, the group filed a lawsuit against Google in February 2025, accusing AI Overviews of capturing its rightful traffic, before slashing 45% of its workforce in October and announcing a pivot to B2B "skilling" (professional training for companies) on the same day. Who will be the next victim of AI disruption?

S&P 500: Why the summit is your best ally

Buying at the top means paying a price that that no one has ever dared to pay. Yet, with a record at 7,178 points on Monday, April 27, the S&P 500 proves that strength begets strength. According to RBC Global Asset Management, since 1950, the risk of a correction of more than 10% one year after a peak is only 9%. Over five years, the index has never finished down over 10% after a new record, despite the 1987 crash, the bursting of the dot-com bubble, and the 2008 financial crisis.

Momentum is such that even the most cautious are capitulating. Following Deutsche Bank and its 8,000-point target set for year-end 2025, on April 21 JPMorgan raised its target from 7,200 to 7,600 points, with a bullish scenario at 8,000. Waiting for the ideal pullback on such a high-speed train is often the most costly mistake.

Apple: Cook takes his bow after 3.66 trillion created

Tim Cook's departure in September is not just a change of name, it's a change of engine. Under his 15-year reign, Apple has multiplied its market capitalization tenfold, gaining 3.66 trillion dollars according to Bloomberg, eventually representing over 6% of the US equity market. At 50, John Ternus, a hardware engineer, takes the reins of a group valued at nearly 4 trillion dollars.

The real challenge remains: despite record revenue in the last quarter ($143.8bn, +16%), Apple has been overtaken in valuation by Alphabet and Nvidia, which are further ahead in AI. The first test of the Ternus era will be the foldable iPhone expected this fall, but it is indeed on AI that the race will be decided.

Source: Bloomberg