{"id":73408,"date":"2026-10-21T23:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T03:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/global-market-update-energy-infrastructure-strikes-gold-price-retreat-and-apples-legal-battle\/73408\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T23:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T03:38:12","slug":"global-market-update-energy-infrastructure-strikes-gold-price-retreat-and-apples-legal-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/global-market-update-energy-infrastructure-strikes-gold-price-retreat-and-apples-legal-battle\/73408\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Market Update: Energy Infrastructure Strikes, Gold Price Retreat, and Apple\u2019s Legal Battle"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Apple (<a href=\"\/stock\/AAPL\">AAPL<\/a>)<\/strong> has announced it will appeal a landmark <strong>Australian Federal Court<\/strong> ruling that mandates the opening of its <strong>iOS ecosystem<\/strong> to third-party app stores and payment systems.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Spot <a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/metal\/gold\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"gold price today\">gold<\/a><\/strong> prices dropped nearly <strong>1% to $4,104.18 per ounce<\/strong>, extending a multi-session losing streak as higher <a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/energy\/crude-oil\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"12\" title=\"Crude oil\">oil prices<\/a> and hawkish <strong>Federal Reserve<\/strong> expectations weigh on the non-yielding asset.<\/li>\n<li>Russian drone strikes targeted critical energy infrastructure in Ukraine&#39;s <strong>Poltava region<\/strong> near <strong>Kremenchuk<\/strong>, causing fires and localized damage to the power grid.<\/li>\n<li>The Australian court ruling has cleared the way for <strong>Epic Games<\/strong> to return <em>Fortnite<\/em> to the App Store in Australia as early as Thursday, pending the outcome of Apple&#39;s stay request.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Apple to Appeal Australian Antitrust Ruling on iOS Access<\/h2>\n<p>Apple (<a href=\"\/stock\/AAPL\">AAPL<\/a>) confirmed on Thursday its intention to appeal a significant ruling by the <strong>Federal Court of Australia<\/strong> that requires the tech giant to permit alternative app stores on its mobile devices. The court found that Apple&#39;s control over iOS distribution violated national competition laws, mirroring similar regulatory shifts seen in the <strong>European Union<\/strong> under the Digital Markets Act.<\/p>\n<p>The ruling demands that Apple allow developers like <strong>Epic Games<\/strong> to offer their own storefronts and bypass Apple&#39;s <strong>in-app purchase (IAP)<\/strong> system. Apple stated it will seek an immediate <strong>stay of the decision<\/strong>, arguing that the mandated changes compromise the <em>security and privacy<\/em> of the App Store environment. Despite the appeal, <strong>Epic Games<\/strong> announced that its flagship title, <em>Fortnite<\/em>, is scheduled to return to Australian iOS devices this week.<\/p>\n<h2>Gold Prices Under Pressure Amid Inflationary Concerns<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Spot gold<\/strong> fell <strong>0.9% to $4,104.18 per ounce<\/strong> during early trading on October 22, marking its fourth consecutive session of declines. The retreat comes as <strong>Brent crude<\/strong> oil prices remain elevated above <strong>$110 a barrel<\/strong>, stoking fears that persistent inflation will force the <strong>Federal Reserve<\/strong> to maintain a restrictive monetary policy.<\/p>\n<p>Market participants are currently pricing in an <strong>84% probability<\/strong> that the Fed will hold interest rates steady at its upcoming October meeting, though a <strong>December hike<\/strong> remains a strong possibility. The <strong>U.S. Dollar Index<\/strong> also stabilized near recent highs, making gold more expensive for international buyers and further dampening demand for the precious metal.<\/p>\n<h2>Drone Strikes Hit Energy Facilities in Poltava Region<\/h2>\n<p>Ukrainian officials in the <strong>Poltava region<\/strong> reported a series of Russian drone strikes targeting energy infrastructure near the industrial hub of <strong>Kremenchuk<\/strong>. The attacks, which occurred early Thursday morning, reportedly damaged technical equipment and sparked fires at multiple facilities.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Poltava Regional Military Administration<\/strong> confirmed that emergency crews are on-site to assess the damage and restore power to affected areas. These strikes are part of an intensified campaign against Ukraine&#39;s energy sector, with similar incidents reported in the <strong>Kyiv, Volyn, and Mykolaiv<\/strong> regions over the last 24 hours. Local authorities have warned of potential emergency power outages as the grid faces renewed strain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Apple (AAPL) has announced it will appeal a landmark Australian Federal Court ruling that mandates the opening of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[5042,5716,6517,19451,20561,23356],"class_list":["post-73408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-ukraine","tag-energy-sector","tag-apple-aapl-stock-aapl","tag-gold-xau-usd","tag-antitrust-law","tag-iap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}