LME Nickel Stocks down 84 MT to 270,924 MT

Markets: Stocks fell yesterday, with the Dow getting hit particularly hard as the Iran war continued to drive up oil prices.

📱 Apple expected to debut foldable iPhone today. Fans of nonchalantly flicking open a flip phone to answer a call are in for a great day. At its annual product event today, Apple will reportedly announce a new iPhone that opens and closes like a book. It would be the popular phone’s biggest redesign since launching in 2007, as well as a huge moment for brand-new CEO John Ternus as he looks to reinvigorate a brand that critics have accused of getting stale. Foldable phones, including from rival Samsung, have been available for years, but still only make up a small portion of the smartphone market, per the New York Times. Apple’s version is expected to cost at least $2,000—about twice as expensive as the iPhone 17 Pro.

🤝 Amazon inks major AI chip deal with Qualcomm. The company that started off just selling books online has the option to acquire $4 billion of stock in chipmaker Qualcomm in exchange for custom chips to power its AI data center infrastructure, according to SEC filings. The deal is seen as a big win for Qualcomm, which has long manufactured chips for mobile devices but now wants a stronger foothold in data centers to challenge Nvidia’s dominance. “The company is transforming,” Qualcomm’s CFO said at a conference yesterday.

📚 Report: Students who use AI do worse on exams. File this under “things you suspected but could not prove.” According to OECD’s flagship education report, students who use AI for schoolwork underperform those who don’t by a significant amount. Case in point: Students who never use AI scored 509 on a science test, vs. 481 for students who use it very frequently—the equivalent of about a year and a half of education when adjusted for socioeconomic status, Bloomberg reported. Still, the report emphasizes that AI can still be a useful tool for students if used responsibly: Students who use AI once or twice a week often outperformed those who used it less often.—AE

Canada raises tariffs on U.S. goods amid ongoing tensions

By Elizabeth Black

Canada’s new, higher tariffs on roughly $20 billion in U.S. goods took effect Tuesday, according to the Canadian government. The move was a response to the U.S. government’s decision in late August to impose 50% tariffs on $20 billion in Canadian goods, after trade negotiations broke down. The new Canadian tariffs focus on sectors including steel and aluminum, pulp and paper, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, plastics, and electronics. Previous counter-tariffs, such as those against U.S. automobiles, also remain in place.

Most of the tariffs were raised to 25% or 50% to match U.S. rates, according to the Canadian government. Canada would match the U.S. tariff burden dollar for dollar, Prime Minister Mark Carney said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that the exchange rate between Canadian and U.S. dollars was imbalanced. Trump said the imbalance would end, without giving further details. Trump also threatened to ban Canada-based aviation company Bombardier from the U.S. market. Bombardier mostly makes business jets for commercial purposes, but the U.S. military has purchased a few for airborne communications support. As of Tuesday morning, the Canadian dollar was worth about 72 U.S. cents, according to Google Finance.

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Answer to today's trivia question: The Trumpet