According to a report from Bloomberg, CEO Tim Cook said in an all-hands meeting on Thursday that he is deeply distraught about the immigration issue in the U.S. and that he will take it up with lawmakers.
- Cook also emphasized that it was a time for de-escalation and that he had spoken about it with Trump.
- The CEO said that immigration was a key issue for Apple, which has team members who operate on some form of Visa across the U.S.
- Cook’s comments reportedly follow up on his memo from last week over federal officers shooting and killing two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis last month, which led to a partial government shutdown and delay of key data releases.
Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) chief Tim Cook reportedly said that he is concerned about the immigration issue in the U.S. and that he will take up the matter with lawmakers.
According to a report from Bloomberg, the CEO told employees in an all-hands meeting on Thursday that he is “deeply distraught” with how the U.S. has been dealing with immigration.
Cook’s comments reportedly follow up on his memo from last week over federal officers shooting and killing two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis last month amid President Donald Trump’s moves to enforce stricter immigration control in the country.
Cook’s Comments
Cook reportedly told employees that he had heard some of his employees do not feel comfortable leaving their homes. “No one should feel this way. No one,” he reportedly said.
Cook also emphasized that it was a time for de-escalation, and that he had spoken about it with Trump.
Why Is This Important?
The CEO said that immigration was a key issue for Apple, which has team members who operate on some form of Visa across the U.S.
“For as long as I can remember, we have been a smarter, wiser, more innovative company because we’ve attracted the best and brightest from all corners of the world,” he reportedly said. “I am going to continue to lobby lawmakers on this issue. You have my word on that.”
Cook also said that Apple has hundreds of workers on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and promised to personally advocate for them.
However, some Apple employees were initially critical of Cook’s delayed response to the shooting.
Partial Government Shutdown And Data Delays
The protests against shootings and killings of the U.S. citizens in Minneapolis also resulted in a partial government shutdown in the U.S. that began this weekend and ended within four days.
The Senate separated DHS funding from other agencies to avoid a prolonged shutdown after Democrats refused to support a funding bill that contributed to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents.
The shutdown also affected the release of key data in the U.S., including the January employment report, December’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, and the Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment release.
How Did Stocktwits Users React?
On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around AAPL shares remained ‘extremely bullish’ over the past 24 hours amid ‘extremely high’ message volumes.
Shares of AAPL have gained nearly 19% in the past year.
Meanwhile, U.S. equities declined in Thursday’s trade. At the time of writing, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, was down 0.9%; the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ) fell 0.92%; and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) declined 0.85%.
Retail sentiment around the S&P 500 ETF on Stocktwits was in the ‘bearish’ territory.
The iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) was up by 0.49% at the time of writing.
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