Reif Law Group filed a petition in San Diego County Superior Court seeking FINRA arbitration against Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC and advisor Nicholas S. Westendorf on behalf of Michael J. Massery, a 77-year-old retiree. The petition alleges the firm placed him in a covered call strategy meant to protect his stock, then kept rolling the options for four years after he asked in writing to exit, until his Apple and NVIDIA shares were called away. Over more than 200 option transactions, the cost of exiting allegedly grew from about $434,000 to about $1 million. In December 2024, roughly 8,000 NVIDIA and 9,000 Apple shares were called away at strike prices far below market value, followed by a tax bill on the gains. The petition quotes an advisor's email stating the investor should have never been put into this strategy.
Summary written by Upside AI from the original article. Read the source for full details.
Read the original on Yahoo Finance ↗
Keywords
Morgan StanleyoptionsretireesAppleNvidia
Open a keyword to see other news on the same topic.
Related tickers and likely impact
AAPL
• NeutralApple Inc.
Relevance: low
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Information Technology |
| Industry | Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals |
| Market cap | $5.1T |
| Close on 10/23/2026 | 347.73 |
| Change that session | -0.14% |
NVDA
• NeutralNvidia
Relevance: low
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Information Technology |
| Industry | Semiconductors |
| Market cap | $5.1T |
| Close on 10/23/2026 | 211.00 |
| Change that session | -0.57% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
Related news
- Someone Just Spent $21 Million Betting Nvidia Falls Below $180 by January
A trader bought 100,000 put options on Nvidia with a $180 strike expiring January 15, 2027, for about $21 million, or roughly $2.10 per share by the article's calculation. The strike sits 21.5% below the October 9 close, while Nvidia closed down 0.52% at $229.28, so the stock would need a steep decline for the trade to pay off. The buyer is unidentified, and the trade could be a directional bet or portfolio protection; the data cannot show whether it was part of a spread. Nvidia had closed at a record $239.24 on October 6 before falling 2.94% on October 8 after a report that OpenAI's revenue came in below expectations. Revenue for the latest quarter of fiscal 2027 rose 105.8% to $96.22 billion, and the company guided to $108.0 billion for the next quarter, with its next earnings report expected November 17, 2026.
- BC-Most Active Stocks
This AP article ranks the most actively traded Nasdaq stocks on October 20, 2026, listing volume, high, low, last price and change for each. Fort Technology Inc. led with 166,480,803 shares traded, last at $0.7562 (up $0.2193), followed by WF Holding Ltd. with 128,292,929 shares and SHF Holdings Inc. with 102,073,067. Large names including NVIDIA (21,149,296 shares), Tesla (8,570,473 shares) and Apple (6,228,763 shares) also appear on the list.
- Apple Now Trades at Twice Nvidia’s Forward P/E
Apple closed October 19 at $342.94, just below its 52-week high of $348.15, while NVIDIA closed at $217.09, about 11% under its peak of $243.37. The two companies are worth about $5.00 trillion and $5.24 trillion, but Apple trades at 37 times forward earnings versus 18 times for NVIDIA, roughly 2.1 times the multiple. Apple’s June-quarter revenue rose 16.36% against 105.85% for NVIDIA’s latest quarter, and analysts expect NVIDIA’s EPS to rise from 9.3124 this fiscal year to 15.9146 next year. Apple’s iPhone revenue grew 22% to $54.3 billion, but management guided September-quarter growth of 9% to 11% and gross margin pressure from memory costs. The author argues Apple carries more risk because its 37 multiple has more room to contract if growth slows, while NVIDIA’s discount reflects doubts about cloud spending, custom chips and China.
- Trump’s $330 Million White House Ballroom Donor List Reveals Nvidia, Apple and Google Among Top Tech Contributors: Report (UPDATED)
According to the Washington Post, the donor list for President Trump's White House ballroom project reportedly links companies and individuals to federal contracts, policy decisions and a presidential pardon. Nvidia and Apple each pledged $25 million, Google committed $22 million, and Microsoft and Palantir each pledged $10 million. The private campaign collected $333 million, including at least $77 million from anonymous donors, and 57 donors pledged at least $100,000. One highlighted case is Isabela Herrera, who pledged $2.5 million, while her father was pardoned by Trump in January 2026. The project has faced legal challenges; the Supreme Court allowed construction to proceed on Aug. 31, with Trump targeting completion in 2028.
- The $5 Trillion Club: Which Is the Better Stock to Own, Apple or Nvidia?
Apple and Nvidia are the only two companies to have reached a $5 trillion market cap. The article argues Nvidia offers more upside than Apple but carries more risk. Nvidia's revenue is projected at nearly $412 billion in fiscal 2027, up from nearly $27 billion in fiscal 2023, and the company forecasts another 70% growth next year, driven by demand for AI infrastructure. It trades at 13.5 times forward earnings on fiscal 2028 estimates, versus 36 times for Apple's fiscal 2027, while Apple's EPS is projected to rise from $6.11 to $8.83, a 45% increase on 21% revenue growth. The author warns that a major slowdown in AI infrastructure spending would hit Nvidia hardest.
- Own VGT? Here's How Much of It Is Really Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, and Broadcom.
The Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) is a passive index fund holding 318 technology stocks. Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft and Broadcom together made up about 49% of the fund's assets as of Sept. 30. The fund has averaged 15.03% annual returns since its January 2004 inception, with 24.7% over 10 years, 20.9% over five years, 35% over three years and 35.2% over the past year. VGT does not hold Alphabet, Amazon, Meta or Tesla because they are not classified as information technology under its benchmark. The article notes that investors worried about this concentration could instead buy an S&P 500 or Nasdaq-100 ETF for broader diversification.
Related markets
Latest news
- Microsoft offers voluntary buyout to 60,000 employees
Microsoft (MSFT) announced on Monday that it is offering voluntary buyouts to roughly 60,000 employees as it reshapes its organization for the AI era. According to reports, the offers cover staff in Canada, India, the United Kingdom and the United States at level 70 and below, including some senior personnel. It follows the company's first voluntary retirement program, announced in May, which offered packages of eight to 39 weeks of base pay depending on position and tenure. The move comes as Microsoft plans to spend $190 billion on capital expenditures in 2026, largely for AI. Its quarterly earnings, with an update on capex and Azure cloud growth, are due Wednesday.
- As Anthropic’s IPO Looms, The Company Faces A Significant Risk From A Surprising Place, Midterm State And Local Elections
Anthropic has publicly filed its Form S-1 for an IPO just days before the midterm elections, and Oxford Economics' chief U.S. economist Michael Pearce says the biggest risk to its AI data center expansion lies with state and local officials. He cites moratoriums, environmental reviews and grid-connection bottlenecks as more immediate threats than Washington. A May Gallup poll found 71% of Americans oppose data center construction near them, and the National League of Cities tracker counts at least 76 localities that have tried halts or bans. Per WSJ via investingLive, Anthropic's compute commitments exceed $600 billion, though TradingKey cites $750 billion, and the S-1 warns that delays in securing energy, water and other critical services could slow new compute.
- Microsoft offers voluntary buyouts to 60,000 employees
Microsoft said Monday it is offering voluntary exit buyouts to certain employees in the U.S., Canada, India and the United Kingdom at experience level 70 or below, with around 60,000 people eligible according to a source. The company is ramping up data center spending to meet strong AI demand while supplying cloud services to Anthropic, OpenAI and others, which has put a strain on its finances. Its first-ever voluntary retirement program, announced in April, was open to around 7% of U.S. employees. Some marketing, sales and engineering teams have chosen not to participate, and employees must decide in December, with those who take the offer leaving on Dec. 31.
- Why PagSeguro Stock Crashed Today
PagSeguro (PAGS) shares fell 26.4% as of 11:20 a.m. ET, after surging earlier this month when conservative candidate Flávio Bolsonaro led incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva 47.3% to 44.8% in Brazil's first round. Lula won the second round with 51.8% of votes to Bolsonaro's 48.2%, prompting investors to pull back from Brazil-related stocks broadly. Bolsonaro is refusing to concede and challenging the results, alleging the administration suppressed voting in key districts, though it is unclear whether the claims have merit. Several South American heads of state have already congratulated Lula, who will likely remain in office through 2030. The article notes PagSeguro trades at 7.7 times trailing earnings, with analysts expecting more than 10% annual earnings growth over the next five years, which it says makes the stock look cheap regardless of the election outcome.
- Kalshi strikes deal with S&P Dow Jones Indices to expand financial event contracts
S&P Dow Jones Indices has partnered with prediction market platform Kalshi, allowing the exchange to offer event contracts settled on official values of S&P DJI's benchmarks, and making Kalshi a preferred platform for such contracts. The two will also explore building indexes from Kalshi's prediction market data, which could track expectations on economic, political and sporting events, though no timeline was disclosed. The deal follows moves by traditional market operators into prediction markets, including Intercontinental Exchange's commitment of up to $2 billion to Polymarket in October 2025 and Nasdaq's August partnership with Kalshi on market surveillance technology. Separately, S&P Global said it completed its acquisition of blockchain security firm OpenZeppelin, with financial terms undisclosed.
- Bloom Energy Jumps 7% as Post-Earnings Selloff Reverses; FuelCell Rises 6%, Plug Power Edges Higher
Bloom Energy (BE) rose 7% to $207.61 in morning trading, recovering part of last week's post-earnings slide, while FuelCell Energy (FCEL) gained 6% to $11.83 and Plug Power (PLUG) edged up 2% to $1.41. Bloom's third-quarter 2026 results showed revenue more than doubling on demand from hyperscaler and AI data center customers, and the company raised its full-year revenue outlook for the third time this year. However, free cash flow turned negative, ending a run of four positive quarters, and CFO Simon Edwards said the cash use is “not the beginning of a trend,” tying it to inventory, contract assets and receivables built for future deliveries. The next test is whether fourth-quarter 2026 deliveries convert into cash, and Bloom stock is still trading below its pre-earnings level. Meanwhile, the Global X Hydrogen ETF (HYDR) rose 1% and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) rose 0.9% to $767.13.
Get the briefing on Telegram or Zalo
Join the Upside Telegram channel or Zalo group for the Vietnam stocks and gold briefing at 8:00 and 19:00 (Vietnam time) on trading days, plus a weekly wrap on Saturday morning.