What happened
Shares of Qualcomm (QCOM 0.23%) spiked this week after the company moved closer to ending its legal battles with Apple.
Qualcomm investors are hoping that the tech company is done with its patent legal battle with the iPhone maker, sending its share price up 8% this week, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
So what
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Apple's appeal on Monday regarding its patent infringement case against Qualcomm. Apple was trying to convince the court that there were several patents Qualcomm owned that weren't valid.
Image source: Getty Images.
This was the second time the Supreme Court declined to hear Apple's patent challenge, which likely means the company won't be able to pursue the matter further.
Apple and Qualcomm have mostly settled their patent disputes over the past several years, and Qualcomm investors are likely viewing this latest move by the court as an indication that the company can move on from the patent drama.
Now what
Qualcomm's stock lost a little bit of ground on Friday morning after the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest jobs report showing that payrolls rose by 263,000 jobs in September.
While a strong labor market is great for job seekers, Qualcomm investors are likely concerned that the Federal Reserve will view the strong labor market as more evidence that the economy is strong enough to withstand continued aggressive interest rate hikes.
That possibility has a lot of investors on edge right now, as they believe that more rate hikes meant to tame inflation will end up slowing down the economy too much.
All of this means that while Qualcomm inventors should certainly be happy with the Supreme Court's decision not to hear Apple's patent appeal, they should also brace for more potential share price swings.
