Apple’s new chief executive, John Ternus, faces old worries about whether the world’s biggest technology brand can sustain explosive growth. But his predecessor, Tim Cook, faced similar fears when he took over from co-founder, Steve Jobs, 15 years ago. Now, as then, this happy shareholder hopes the pessimists are wrong.

In addition to Apple’s cautious approach to the artificial intelligence (AI) theme, there are solid reasons for optimism. Apple products, from the iPhones 1.5 billion people use daily to the MacBook I am writing on now, are among the best-recognised brands on this planet. Along with AirPods and the Apple Watch – plus increasingly important services, such as the App Store and iTunes – this is technology that is easy to use for the majority of people who aren’t that keen on technology.
I bought my first computer from them in 1990 – it was a black and white Apple MacIntosh Classic, since you ask – and I have bought all my digital technology here ever since. Back then, wizened old hacks from Fleet Street mocked me for spending £1,000 on a ‘tripewriter’ but it felt like the future, and it was.

Never mind the geopolitics and hot air about Donald Trump’s latest deal, due to be signed at the United Nations next Tuesday. It will give a stimulant shot in the arm to a major healthcare share that has been sickly for years, despite this business finding the biggest blockbuster drug of the century.

When technology shares plunged on fears that “artificial intelligence (AI) will kill us all” this 150 year-old London-listed business saw its stock surge 8% higher on Monday and another 6% yesterday. That means it has gained 43% since I invested in March, as reported at that time. Better still, this business still yields 3.2% income after increasing or sustaining dividends for 35 years without fail, and might have further to grow.

Easily the most important event for investors this week – and even, perhaps, the survival of humanity – will not occur in the Square Mile or New York or Tokyo. Instead, perhaps surprisingly, it will occur outside the wee Scots market town of Dumfries. Yes, I am being serious.

Renewed violence in the Middle East, including American claims to have destroyed five Iranian tankers, pushed the oil price to peak at $104 per barrel this week. That’s bad news for the global economy and stock markets. No wonder Japanese shares fell by 2% on Friday, albeit with America and Britain maintaining marginal gains.
But the ‘forever fund’ benefited substantially from its diversified portfolio, with my biggest holding seeing its share price surge 3.5% higher in a day (it’s been a ten-bagger for years now) on long-awaited new products. Meanwhile, a high-flying tiddler announced a £202m uplift, doubling the value of its biggest holding, which is expected to add more than a third to this investment trust’s net asset value (NAV) when that is updated at the end of this month.

Nobody who was an adult on 9/11 will ever forget where we were on that tragic day when terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center in New York, causing the deaths of 2,977 innocent people. Nothing can ever subtract from that human tragedy and the scale of those catastrophic events, although historians and politicians very properly continue to analyse how the world changed on September 11, 2001.

Less obviously, the 25th anniversary of 9/11 today also demonstrates humanity’s capacity to recover in time from the most unimaginable setbacks. While historians and politicians focus on the human tragedy, with due respect it falls to this column to consider how the Twin Towers disaster impacted the economy and stock market.

Apple (stock market ticker: AAPL) will launch its first foldable iPhone tomorrow as incoming  chief executive and former head of hardware engineering, John Ternus, heralds a new era of innovation. But with a price tag above $2,000 (£1,480), will 1.5 billion active iPhone users buy, twist or fold?

Shares in the world’s second-most valuable company slipped 2.5% lower yesterday as investors fretted that the long-awaited launch, dubbed ‘Surprise and Shine’, might flop. But company insiders insist it is “about to start the biggest run of device releases in its history, delivering a wave of fresh form factors and whole new product areas in 2026, 2027 and beyond”.

Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, sounded cruel but shrewd when she targeted the key questions for state spending and stock market investors this week. What’s our priority? Welfare or warfare: bullets or benefits?

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the economic question has become an existential one. National sovereignty means nothing unless you can defend it.

Now Argentina is challenging Britain’s ability to preserve the independence of the Falkland Islands, established by force of arms 44 years ago, Prime Minister Andy Burnham could be forgiven for feeling under attack from all sides.

Wars in the Middle East and Ukraine are human tragedies and economic disasters about which most individual investors can do precisely nothing.