Good morning, investors. For all the hubbub and hype coming into the week, the Nasdaq just snapped its longest winning streak since 1992.

And yet, at the same time, the semiconductor index just cemented a 14-day winning streak of its own, marking its best stretch in 12 years.

Funny how that works.

For today’s edition we are turning our attention to seismic shareholder news at Apple.

Steve Jobs left sizable shoes to fill at Apple but Tim Cook has done it with flying colors, according to shareholder returns.

Apple stock has returned more than 20 times its value since Cook took over in August 2011.

As the company announced that senior hardware VP John Ternus will succeed Cook on September 1, Apple’s market cap hovered at $4 trillion, roughly 11 times the $349 billion company Cook first inherited.

“It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to have been trusted to lead such an extraordinary company,” Cook said in a statement Monday.

“I love Apple with all of my being, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with a team of such ingenious, innovative, creative, and deeply caring people who have been unwavering in their dedication to enriching the lives of our customers and creating the best products and services in the world.”

Now, in the same 15-year stretch:

Yet the gap between Apple’s stock price and its market cap is just as critical to the story.

The divergence between the share price increasing 20-fold while the market cap increasing 11-fold can be explained almost entirely by the largest buyback program in corporate history.

Apple retired close to 40% of its shares on Cook’s watch, amplifying per-share returns even in years when the underlying business saw slower growth.

Cook also initiated dividends in 2012.

Apple has since returned more than $900 billion to shareholders in dividends and repurchases combined.

Those variables explain why a $10,000 bet on Apple the day Cook took over is worth more than $200,000 today on price alone.

That balloons closer to $240,000 with dividends reinvested.

The underlying business driving returns has shifted too.

Services revenue, once a rounding error, now clears $100 billion annually and carries margins closer to those of a software company than a hardware maker.

Taken together, Cook's tenure redefined Apple from a product-cycle story into a capital-return machine.

Like Cook after Steve Jobs, his successor faces a new and complex chapter.

Apple still derives most of its revenue from the iPhone, even though the product hasn’t meaningfully changed in years.

That leaves Ternus — who has spent over two decades at Apple — with an intimidating task ahead.

🏦 China's central bank held its benchmark lending rates steady for the 11th straight month. The PBOC left the one-year LPR at 3.0% and the five-year at 3.5%. Policymakers signaled a wait-and-see stance on stimulus. (CNBC)

🎯 Kevin Warsh says he’s focused on Fed independence. He said that monetary policy independence is “essential” during his Senate hearing Monday, and also noted that the president expressing his views on interest rates doesn’t threaten independence. (Yahoo Finance)

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I sat down with veteran technical strategist Frank Cappelleri to unpack the winning sectors in the stock market, what he's most bearish on right now, whether to buy into software after its worst month since 2008, and what's happening in energy and financials.

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🗓 April 21, 1899: Charles Dow published his first "Review and Outlook" column on the front page of The Wall Street Journal. His views on stock prices and investor psychology became the foundation of Dow Theory.

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