Trending tickers: Apple, Robinhood, Alphawave, WPP

June 9, 2025

Apple stock headed into the new week on the front foot, building on gains from Friday as investors look to the tech giant’s flagship Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).

The event kicks off in Cupertino, California, on June 9, offering developers and users a look at the changes coming to the company’s software products throughout the next year.

During last year’s WWDC, Apple (AAPL) unveiled its Apple Intelligence AI platform. While the showcase made for some impressive tech demos, the company hasn’t been able to deliver on all of its high-flying promises.

This year, it’s expected the company will unveil design updates to its systems, with new looks for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.

While artificial intelligence might not be the star of the show like it was at WWDC 2024, that doesn’t mean Apple won’t have any new AI features in the offering.

According to Gurman, Apple will show off an AI battery manager and AI-powered live translation feature for its AirPods. The battery manager, part of Apple Intelligence, will understand how you use your iPhone and increase or decrease power output depending on what you’re doing on your device.

NasdaqGS – Nasdaq Real Time Price • USD

Trading platform Robinhood dipped more than 5% in premarket trading as it was snubbed for a place in the S&P 500 index.

Companies must meet a broad set of requirements to be included in the index. Robinhood was a likely candidate but missed the bar after Dow Jones opted not to make any quarterly changes.

Other potential candidates were Interactive Brokers (IBKR) and Cheniere Energy (LNG) which also dipped ahead of the opening bell.

NasdaqGS – Nasdaq Real Time Price • USD

Chip maker Alphawave became the latest London markets defector as it agreed to a $2.4bn (£1.8bn) takeover by US semiconductor group Qualcomm (QCOM).

Qualcomm is offering to pay 183p per share in cash for London-listed Alphawave, which is a near-96% premium to its closing price before the takeover interest was revealed.

But Qualcomm has also put forward an alternative share offer to Alphawave investors, which would see them receive Qualcomm stock instead of cash.

The £1.8bn price is less than half the £3.1bn value at which Toronto-headquartered Alphawave floated when it listed just over four years ago.

It sees the London market lose yet another listing after a recent flurry of firms defecting from the City for rival exchanges overseas and a number of firms being bought out.

Tony Pialis, president and chief executive of Alphawave, said: “Qualcomm’s acquisition of Alphawave represents a significant milestone for us and an opportunity for our business to join forces with a respected industry leader and drive value to our customers.”

WPP’s share price dived more than 1.8% on Monday as CEO Mark Read stepped down from the advertising giant.

“The fact WPP’s share price had more than halved over the past three years meant Mark Read’s days were always numbered as CEO,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould. “Shareholders can be patient, but there reaches a point where they can wait no longer and something has to change in order to revive the share price.

“Fundamentally, Read has failed to reposition WPP in the face of structural changes to the advertising industry. The rise of artificial intelligence and social media networks have meant that big clients have less of a need to use agencies such as WPP.”

Read steps back without a clear replacement, and brings to a close more than three decades at the company.

“The share price falling further on Read’s departure news is a sign that investors are all too aware of the problems at hand,” Mould added. “This isn’t a simple situation where all that’s needed is fresh thinking from a leadership perspective. WPP needs a complete overhaul and that won’t come easily or quickly.”

Group chair Philip Jansen said in a statement that Read had “played a central role in transforming the company into a world leader in modern marketing services”.

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