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Happy Monday! It’s hard to win a fantasy football matchup when your best player / first-round draft pick doesn’t perform well (I’m looking at you Tyreek Hill). And it’s hard for the stock market to move higher when the biggest company in the world is trading down on bearish headlines (I’m looking at you Apple). Plus, will the Fed cut by 25 or 50 bps on Wednesday?

—Aaron Bry

Plus, looking for the best place to trade options? Click here.

MARKET SNAPSHOT

Last Week: Was a volatile week for the overall market, but some strong rallies brought us well into the green for the week. The QQQs moved higher by nearly 5% in five trading days, with the Dow and S&P lagging slightly behind.

On Our Radar: There is not much in terms of economic data today, but Wednesday will be the highly anticipated Fed decision regarding interest rates. We will also get earnings from FedEx and some other companies throughout the week.

TOP STORY

Apple Shares Slide In Monday Premarket: What's Souring Sentiment?

Basically: Shares of Apple, Inc. moved sharply lower in premarket trading on Monday, with a slew of factors weighing down on them.

So: Preorders for Apple’s latest iPhone iterations began last Friday and an early tally by some analysts does not paint a positive picture. TFI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in a social media post late Sunday that iPhone 16 preorders were 37 million units, down 12.7% from the iPhone 15 first-week preorders. Here are the other stocks moving on the Apple news.

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FIVE ZINGERS

All Clear, All Green: $DJT shares are soaring higher after Donald Trump declared that he was ‘safe and well’ following another potential assassination attempt.

Feast Or Famine: Restaurant powerhouse Darden is gearing up to report earnings. Here’s what analysts are saying ahead of the report.

The Gold Standard: Gold hit new all-time highs against a weaker dollar. But, is it too late to get in on the gold rally?

Bad Blood: Some T-Swift fans aren’t happy with the star’s endorsement of VP Kamala Harris. Here’s what one mother did about it.

Your Chance At $30k Risk-Free: Benzinga's World Championship of Trading is about to take off, and all you have to do is sign up and paper trade for your chance at the prizes.

ONE FOR THE ROAD

S&P 500, Nasdaq Futures Mixed As Rate-Cut Hopes Weigh On Techs: Fund Manager Sees Near-Term Corrections As Buying Opportunities

Basically: U.S. stocks could start the first trading session of the week on a mixed note, as traders fully bake in the odds of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve this week.

So: Small-caps are outperforming in the premarket, as evidenced by the solid rise in the Russell 2,000 futures. Analysts and market watchers are polarized about the impact the widely anticipated rate cut can have on the market. But one fund manager is gearing up to buy the dip on these stocks.

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