Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Lunch, our afternoon update on today's market action, news, and analysis.

Good afternoon. Today is Monday, February 24th, and I'm your host, Kim Khan, our top story so far.

Apple announced that it will invest more than $500 billion in the U.S. over the next four years,

hiring about 20,000 people.

The vast majority will be focused on R&D, silicon engineering, software development, and AI and machine learning.

UBS analyst David Vote, who is a neutral rating on Apple, said the iPhone maker's supply chain and financial model raises doubts around the $500 billion announcement and

number, which includes building a server factory in Houston. While the headline figure on the

surface is a large number, we believe it lacks substance at this juncture based on history, he said.

Vote added that more than 40% of Apple's suppliers, who are responsible for roughly 98% of direct spending on materials,

manufacturing, and assembling Apple products, are located in Taiwan or China. The U.S. supplier

base accounts for just 10% of Apple's supply chain. The hiring of an additional 20,000 new

employees would grow Apple's employee base by around 12% of the next five years. If the cost is

around $250,000 per employee, that would raise Apple's operating expenses by just $5 billion per year.

Wed Bush analyst Dan I said the announcement is not a sign that Apple is tweaking its China

manufacturing buildout, but is more akin to a strategic move to get into President Trump's

invest in the U.S. theme. Cook continues to prove that he is 10% politician and 90% CEO, and times

like this, he will be using his strong ties globally to make sure it's smoother waters for

Cupertino ahead, despite the market's agitata around Apple's growth initiatives, with Trump

heading down the tariff-threat path. In today's trading, stocks are choppy following Friday's

sell-off and growth names have lost early gains. The major averages are mixed, but fairly

close to the flatline. Rates are also volatile. The 10-year treasury yield is back around 4.4%, but

has been in the green and the red today.

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