When it comes to Big Tech, a win for one may be a win for all. Exhibit A: Google and Apple.

Shares of the iPhone-maker jumped 3.8% on Wednesday after a federal judge late Tuesday announced a light-touch approach to remedies for Google’s illegal monopoly in the internet search industry. The ruling was a huge relief for Google, which feared a forced divestiture of its Chrome browser, as well as for Apple, which feared losing out on a $20 billion annual payday.

Open Relationship

To recap: Last year, antitrust enforcers at the US Department of Justice proved that Google held an illegal search monopoly, largely basing their argument on the billions of dollars the company pays to be the default search engine on third-party browsers and devices. For a year now, Apple shareholders have feared the ruling would eventually cost the company the easy revenue from its Google partnership. Instead, US District Judge Amit Mehta ruled Tuesday that the two companies will simply have to tweak the terms of their arrangement. Google can still pay to be the default search engine on Apple’s devices and Safari browser, but not the exclusive search engine.

While the ruling does open the door to a future deal where Google pays less than $20 billion annually to be Apple’s default-but-not-exclusive search provider, it may yet be just a speed bump for the two tech partners. Google parent Alphabet has vowed to continue appealing the case, meaning it could still be years before the company has to implement the remedies — if it ever has to do so at all.

A lot can change in the world of tech over just a couple of years, which is exactly why the remedy ruling came out on the lenient side of the spectrum in the first place:

• In the ruling, Judge Mehta wrote that allowing Google to continue such payments is “more palatable now” compared with earlier phases of the trial, thanks to a rise in generative AI that has made other companies “in a better position, both financially and technologically, to compete with Google than any traditional search company has been in decades.”
• The ruling also warned that barring such browser deals would unfairly deny a significant revenue stream to companies like Apple, without making much of a dent in Google’s overall user base.

Data Sharing is Caring: Google may have to make a larger concession as part of the ruling, however. According to the ruling, the company will be required to make available, at marginal cost, a snapshot of its search data to its competitors. Such data, theoretically, could help would-be competitors build a search engine capable of competing with Google’s, though Google doesn’t have to give up advertising data, which Udayan Bose, founder and CEO of digital growth marketing firm NetElixir, tells The Daily Upside “is where the real competitive leverage lies.” Apple is already working on building a Google competitor, anyhow. On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that Apple is planning to launch its own AI-powered web search tool next year — one fueled in part by Google technology, thanks to a new partnership. They may no longer be exclusive, but their relationship seems as strong as ever.

September is a wake-up call for high-schoolers, as summer days at the park make way for integral calculus. It’s even more jarring for bond traders, whose number-crunching around the autumnal equinox is more stressful than the fall semester’s first 12th-grade exam.

That’s because the ninth month of the year is the worst month for longer-dated bonds: In the last decade, global government bonds with maturities over 10 years suffered a median loss of 2% in September, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Unique in 2025 is that markets attempted a speed run, with a global rout in sovereign debt hitting this week before the NFL even kicked off its first regular season game. That’s in part because there are bigger concerns at play.

It’s the Economy, Stupid

On Wednesday morning, the 30-year US Treasury yield briefly topped 5%, long seen as a key psychological threshold, for the first time since July. While a federal appeals court ruling that most of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on foreign countries are illegal added uncertainty around future government revenue, analysts at ING said it’s simpler than that. (Trump said his administration will appeal.)

In a note Tuesday, they “firmly” declared this week’s bond selloff “had very little to do with tariff ‘uncertainty’” and was driven by a “mix of fiscal concerns.” The mix can be neatly summed up as fears that governments are borrowing too much plus stubborn, higher inflation. These factors render long-term bonds riskier, making it more expensive for governments to borrow. Hence, the yield on 30-year U.K. bonds hitting the highest level since 1998 on Tuesday, with all eyes on whether a forthcoming budget can plug a multibillion-pound hole in public finances. Hence, the yield on French 30-year bonds holding at its highest since 2008 on Wednesday, with Prime Minister François Bayrou’s government on the verge of collapsing over his plans to slash soaring deficits. Japan’s 30-year bond surged to a record high on Wednesday, and 30-year German Bunds joined the selloff with a 14-year-high yield. The reasons to care are simple:

• Higher, longer-term yields put upward pressure on mortgages, car loans, credit card rates and other debt, tightening a vice grip on households and businesses, with the stress rippling out to the broader economy.
• The risk of further bond market swings was on display in Britain on Tuesday, when the government sold a record £14 billion ($18.8 billion) of 10-year gilts with a 4.88% yield, the highest since 2008. As governments borrow more, they risk doing so at higher interest rates unless they convince markets they have their fiscal house in order.

Cooler Heads: The good news is that at least part of the selloff appears to have stabilized: The 30-year US Treasury yield ended Wednesday seven basis points lower at 4.898%, thanks to soft July jobs numbers boosting expectations of an imminent interest rate cut. Britain’s 30-year gilt yields also fell eight basis points. Meanwhile, the CBOE Volatility Index, better known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, fell on Wednesday after spiking amid the bond selloff. Now, just the simple task of reining in all those budgets.

Macy’s had a small miracle on 34th Street: Its same-store sales rose last quarter for the first time in three years. Investors went on a shopping spree after hearing the upbeat earnings, pushing Macy’s stock yesterday to its second-biggest single-day gain ever.

The department store also seems cautiously optimistic for the holidays, raising its profit forecast for the year after cutting it last quarter. It still expects tariffs to hurt its margins, since Macy’s has said about 20% of its products are sourced from China. But the retail giant is ultimately counting on higher-income shoppers, especially at its pricey Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury stores, to keep buying $200 serums and designer totes despite price hikes.

Retail Therapy

Though sales at stores open at least a year grew less than 1% in the past quarter, the positive push could represent the revival of a company that has been circled by buyout firms twice in the past two years. Macy’s turned down the offers, which would’ve seen the icon gutted for real estate similar to fallen rivals Sears and Lord & Taylor.

Instead, Macy’s is in the midst of a makeover that’ll see it with fewer stores that get more attention:

• CEO Tony Spring has been rolling out a plan to make Macy’s relevant again after stepping into the role last year from his previous post at Bloomingdale’s. His plan starts with shuttering underperforming stores. About a third of all Macy’s locations are targeted to close, leaving 350 stores — less than half of what it had in 2015.
• The remaining stores are getting revamped with new brands, more staff, and a cleanout of clutter. More than 100 stores have gotten upgrades so far, driving their same-store sales up 1.1% last quarter to outpace the company’s overall growth.

Platinum Preferred: American shoppers told PwC they plan to spend less this holiday season than they did last year, which would mark the first spending dip since 2020. Macy’s is looking to its wealthiest customers to keep the lights on in the Herald Square window displays. The company said about half of Macy’s shoppers have six-figure incomes and those higher-income customers spend more. That contributes to beauty brand Bluemercury and bougie mall staple Bloomingdale’s achieving greater same-store sales growth than their parent company’s namesake: 1.2% and 3.6%, respectively.