Apple shares rose nearly 3% on Monday as a new report showed iPhone 17 sales off to a strong start in the U.S. and China.

The iPhone 17 series, which dropped in September, has outsold the iPhone 16 series by 14% in the U.S. and China within its first 10 days of availability, according to data from Counterpoint research.

“The base model iPhone 17 is very compelling to consumers, offering great value for money,” Counterpoint senior analyst Mengmeng Zhang said in the report. “A better chip, improved display, higher base storage, selfie camera upgrade – all for the same price as last year’s iPhone 16. Buying this device is a no brainer, especially when you throw channel discounts and coupons into the mix.”

Bloomberg was first to report the sales numbers.

The company is positioned to rally with demand for the latest iPhone generation exceeding expectations, according to Loop Capital.

The investment bank upgraded Apple from hold to buy, raising its price target to $315 per share from $226.

“While [Wall] Street is baking in some degree of outperformance from AAPL’s iPhone 17 family of products, we believe there remains material upside to Street expectations through CY2027,” Loop Capital’s Ananda Baruah said in a note to clients on Monday.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Monday that Elon Musk‘s SpaceX is falling “behind” the U.S. timeline to return to the moon with Artemis and he will open the contract to other companies.

“We’re not going to wait for one company,” Duffy, who is currently the acting NASA administrator, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday. “We’re going to push this forward and win the second space race against the Chinese. Get back to the moon, set up a camp, a base.”

SpaceX did not immediately return a request for comment.

SpaceX is among the various contractors participating in NASA’s Artemis mission, which aims to establish the “first long-term presence on the Moon” and prepare for missions to Mars. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are also supporting the mission.

SpaceX won a contract in 2021 to provide a lunar landing system for astronauts on the Artemis III mission.

In December, NASA pushed back the next Artemis missions, with the next launch to send astronauts around the moon and back delayed until April 2026 and the trip to land two astronauts on the south polar region of the Moon moved to 2027.

Duffy said Monday that he thinks the April launch can happen in early February and the agency is looking to get “back to the moon in 2028” with two potential companies. Duffy highlighted Blue Origin as a potential competitor that could take over.

“They push their timelines out, and we’re in a race against China,” Duffy said of SpaceX. “The president and I want to get to the moon in this president’s term, so I’m going to open up the contracts.”

Rocket tests for SpaceX and the space sector haven’t always been smooth sailing.

The company launched its eleventh Starship test rocket earlier this month following a string of stumbling blocks and explosions. Firefly Aerospace‘s Alpha rocket exploded last month, shortly after the Federal Aviation Administration cleared it to continue testing.

The ongoing government shutdown could put a dent in plans to reopen contracts. CNBC’s request for comment on the contracting process was answered with an automatic reply that the agency was closed.

CNBC previously reported that NASA employees working on the Artemis missions with contractors such as SpaceX and Blue Origin would continue working during the shutdown.

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Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

Following the discovery of a handful of bad loans from banks, Wall Street has been on the hunt for any other signs of risk in the sector. The regional bank selloff last week overshadowed earnings reports from many major financial institutions.

Here’s what to know:

• Following the panic, investors have zeroed in on loans made by banks to a non-depository financial institutions, known as NDFIs. While banks themselves don’t make this type of borrowing agreement, they often fund them.
• Zions, one of the regional banks at the center of these loan concerns, shed $1 billion in valuation in Thursday’s session alone. While shares were able to make up ground on Friday, the stock ended the week down more than 5%.
• The lending concerns brought flashbacks to 2023’s regional banking crisis sparked by the failure of Silicon Valley Bank.
• Other regional bank stocks also struggled amid the shakeup, with the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) ending the week nearly 2% lower.
• The three major indexes were still able to notch gains last week. Follow live markets updates here.

Breaking news this morning: A major Amazon Web Services outage took down several prominent websites. Users had trouble accessing sites such as Disney+, Snapchat and Venmo, according to Downdetector, but Amazon said it was seeing “significant signs of recovery.”

The outage also created headaches for Delta and United customers. Flyers reported that they couldn’t check in for flights or see their reservation and seat assignment information.

OpenAI is no longer Anthropic’s only big worry. As CNBC’s MacKenzie Sigalos reports, the artificial intelligence startup has been catching heat from the White House.

Anthropic has rebuked federal government efforts to preempt state-level oversight of AI — a notably different stance than that of OpenAI, which has pushed for less regulation.

David Sacks, President Donald Trump’s AI and crypto czar, said the company runs a “regulatory capture strategy based on fear-mongering” and supports “the Left’s vision of AI regulation.” Anthropic did not comment to CNBC.

It’s been a bumpy ride for automakers this year. Car companies faced inflationary concerns, followed by shocks tied to tariffs and subsequent supply chain ramifications.

Executives and industry watchers say the sector has fared better than expected, but there are now growing worries around the health of consumers and suppliers, CNBC’s Michael Wayland reports. That means the stakes are high for automakers including Ford, General Motors and Tesla who are set to report earnings this week.

CNBC’s Luke Fountain broke down the surge in trading card sales, which could help boost retailers as they gear up for the all-important holiday shopping period. At Target, for instance, the category’s sales have soared nearly 70% year-to-date and are expected to top $1 billion in annual revenue.

When it comes to what young shoppers are wearing, Gildan‘s Comfort Colors brand appears to be winning favor from Gen Z, from women’s soccer fans to college fraternity members. Retro colors and soft fabric are two qualities that are driving shoppers to the label, which saw growth jump around 40% last year.