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Appleon Thursday gave a sales forecast for the holiday quarter that missed Wall Street expectations, hurt by weak demand for iPads and wearables, sending its shares down 3.5% in after-hours trading.

Chief ExecutiveTimCookinsisted that the company’s new iPhone 15 models were doing well in China, citing a record September quarter for iPhones in the region and seeking to ease Wall Street worries that Apple was losing market share to a resurgent Huawei and other local smartphone sellers.

On a conference call with analysts, Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said sales for the current quarter, when Apple typically has its biggest sales of new iPhone models, will be similar to the previous year. Wall Street was expecting a forecast for sales to rise 4.97% to $122.98 billion.

Apple shares, which have risen 37% so far this year, dropped 3.5% after-hours when the company gave the forecast.

Earlier on Thursday, Apple reported quarterly sales and profit beat Wall Street expectations, helped by an uptick in iPhone sales and a $1 billion boost to services revenue that offset large drops in Mac and iPad sales.

But revenue from China dipped 2.5% and Cook said the company’s new high-end handset models – the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max devices – are facing supply constraints.

The Cupertino, California, company has navigated a global smartphone slump better than many of its rivals but faces an uneven economic recovery in China, a key market for Apple.

“While we believe investors should breathe a sigh of relief because sales and profits both exceeded expectations, the upside was small and we were concerned to see weak sales from China,” DA Davidson analyst Tom Forte said.

Apple said sales for the fiscal fourth quarter ended Sept. 30 fell roughly 1% to $89.50 billion but beat analyst estimates of $89.28 billion, according to LSEG data. Net income rose about 11%. Profit per share of $1.46 beat analyst expectations of $1.39 per share, according to LSEG.

Apple is facing tougher competition in the smartphone market this year as Huawei TechnologiesLreturns to the field with new phones powered by Chinese-made chips after being all but shut out of the market for several years by US government trade curbs.

Apple’s sales in China fell to $15.08 billion from $15.47 billion in the fourth quarter a year ago. Apple’s Cook said that after accounting for foreign exchange rates, Apple’s business in China grew year-over-year, driven by iPhone sales and services revenue.

“In mainland China, we set a quarterly record for the September quarter for iPhone,” Cook told Reuters. “We had four out of the top five best-selling smartphones in urban China.”

Cook said Apple was “working hard to manufacture more” iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max devices. “We do believe that later this quarter, we’ll reach a supply-demand balance,” he said.

Several global trends are also playing in Apple’s favor, with forecasters predicting that the smartphone market has bottomed out and may start to recover in 2024.

In the longer term, investors are eying how Apple responds to the boom in generative artificial intelligence in which systems can follow prompts in human-like ways – an area that has attracted billions in spending by Microsoftand Alphabet’sGoogle. Apple has said it is working on the technology and views it as a way to improve a wide range of products.

For now, the iPhone remains Apple’s biggest seller. Sales of the device were $43.81 billion in the fourth quarter, in line with analyst expectations of $43.81 billion, according to LSEG data.

The personal computer market is also expected to fare better in the coming year. Earlier this week,Apple rolled outnew Mac machines.

Still, Mac sales slumped by a third to $7.61 billion and iPad sales declined 10% to $6.44 billion, compared with expectations of $8.63 billion and $6.07 billion, respectively.

Sales in Apple’s wearables segment, which includes the Apple Watch and AirPods, fell 3% to $9.32 billion, short of estimates of $9.43 billion, according to LSEG data.

Apple has faced several quarters of declining sales of Macs and iPads, and the fourth quarter continued that trend.

Sales in Apple’s services segment, which includes Apple TV+ and which recently closed a deal with global soccer superstar Lionel Messi, rose 16% to $22.31 billion, compared with analyst estimates of $21.35 billion.

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Leafs finish off Senators for spot in East semifinals

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Leafs finish off Senators for spot in East semifinals

OTTAWA, Ontario — Max Pacioretty scored the tiebreaking goal with less than six minutes remaining, leading the Toronto Maple Leafs to a series-clinching 4-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night in Game 6 of their first-round matchup.

William Nylander had two goals, including an empty-netter in the final seconds, and an assist, and Auston Matthews added a power-play goal in the first period for Toronto. Anthony Stolarz made 20 saves.

Brady Tkachuk and David Perron scored for Ottawa. Thomas Chabot had two assists and Linus Ullmark made 19 saves.

The Maple Leafs advanced to take on the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games in their first-round series.

Toronto grabbed a 3-0 series lead, but Ottawa stayed alive with a 4-3 overtime victory in Game 4 and a 4-0 shutout in Game 5.

The Maple Leafs finally put away the Senators in Game 6.

With the game tied at 2, Pacioretty — a heathy scratch to start the series — scored the winner with 5:39 remaining off a pass from Max Domi that beat Ullmark to the glove side. It was Pacioretty’s first goal of the playoffs.

Scott Laughton hit the post before Nylander iced it into the empty net with 18.3 seconds left.

Matthews put Toronto up 1-0 on a power play with 70 seconds left in the first period when he fired a low shot through traffic.

Nylander, on his 29th birthday, made it 2-0 just 43 seconds into the second when he ripped a shot past Ullmark after Pacioretty forced a turnover from Senators defenseman Nick Jensen.

Ottawa got on the board at 7:28 when Tkachuk tipped a shot past Stolarz.

Toronto, which beat Ottawa four times in five playoffs series in the early 2000s, came close to restoring its two-goal lead when John Tavares poked a loose puck off the post before Ullmark denied Matthew Knies and Brandon Carlo off the rush.

Perron scored with 7:20 left in regulation to tie it on a shot from below the goal line that went in off Stolarz’s back to make it 2-2.

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Eichel’s 1st goal of series helps Knights advance

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Eichel's 1st goal of series helps Knights advance

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Jack Eichel scored his first goal of the series to give Vegas the lead late in the second period, and Adin Hill held it up on a 29-save night to spur the Golden Knights on to the second round with a 3-2 victory in Game 6 against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.

Shea Theodore scored first and Mark Stone scored last for Vegas, which will face the winner of the Edmonton-Los Angeles series. The Oilers took a 3-2 lead on the Kings into Game 6 on their home ice later Thursday.

Minnesota has lost nine consecutive series in the NHL playoffs and last made it out of the first round 10 years ago.

Ryan Hartman had two goals for the Wild, including a wraparound with 3:27 left that came 31 seconds after Stone had just given the Golden Knights a two-goal lead.

Stone, who set up Eichel with a long pass out of the zone that was inches out of reach of the stick of Kirill Kaprizov after he dived to try to prevent the breakaway, had four points in the last three games. Neither Stone nor Eichel recorded a single point in the first three games.

Hartman tied the game for the Wild with four seconds left in the first period, a goal safe from replay review unlike his go-ahead score in Game 5 with 1:15 remaining in regulation that was revoked for an offside call after Vegas challenged.

The Wild were unshaken by the consecutive overtime losses that erased their 2-1 lead, confident they measured up to the deeper Golden Knights and could still take the series.

They were quickly playing from behind, though, after Marco Rossi got the dreaded double minor penalty for high-sticking Brayden McNabb with just 2:27 elapsed in the game.

Theodore wristed in a shot from the high slot with Stone and Tomas Hertl screening Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson, immediately quieting the crowd near the end of the first power play. Gustavsson, who was forced out of Game 5 after two periods due to an illness, had 20 saves.

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NHS may offer weight loss jabs over the counter at pharmacies

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NHS may offer weight loss jabs over the counter at pharmacies

Patients will be able to get weight loss injections from pharmacies, according to reports. 

It’s claimed drugs such as Ozempic and Mounjaro could be available over the counter after a short consultation – at the cost of an NHS prescription.

This would broaden access to these jabs considerably, as the health service currently restricts injections to those regarded as having the highest clinical need.

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Weight loss drugs ‘changing way we see obesity’

At the moment, there is a two-year waiting list for Wegovy on the NHS – and last year, research by Sky News showed the rollout is happening far more slowly than planned.

Thousands of people with severe obesity have been denied access to the treatment, with doctors previously claiming that a “soul-destroying” postcode lottery has emerged.

According to the Daily Mail, a multimillion-pound deal for a pilot scheme will be struck with a pharmaceutical firm, with a view to issuing prescriptions through chemists and health centres.

They would be priced at £9.90 – the same as an NHS prescription – and substantially less than the £150-a-month cost of obtaining these injections privately.

More on Nhs

But the reports have been described as “speculative”, with health experts warning obesity drugs must only be used under medical supervision by those who are eligible.

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The weight loss drug that’s ‘too good’

A government spokesperson said: “As the government shifts the NHS from sickness to prevention, we will be looking across the board at how these drugs can be made available to more people who can benefit from them.

“The NHS is already tackling obesity in innovative ways, including through community care models and digital technologies, to help deliver these drugs as part of a rounded package of care.”

Previous estimates from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) have suggested that 3.4 million people in England could benefit from weight loss injections.

But last December, NICE said these jabs would only be available to 220,000 patients on the NHS in the first three years – meaning millions of others could end up waiting up to 12 years for treatment.

Read more from Sky News:
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UK’s hottest start to May on record
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‘I need weight loss drug but can’t get it’

Studies show people lose on average 15% of their body weight within months of starting treatment with Wegovy. The drug mimics a natural hormone and people feel fuller faster and for longer.

Obesity costs the NHS £6bn a year and is linked to 200 different diseases.

Half of all obese people with three related problems, such as high blood pressure or diabetes, die within 10 years.

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