Welcome to Axis ProRata, a podcast that takes just 10 minutes to get you smarter on the collision of tech business and politics.

I'm Dan Premack. On today's show, the NFL finally gets into the sports betting business and what President Trump still doesn't understand about his own tariffs.

But first, taking a bite out of Apple. So yesterday, shortly after the market close,

Apple announced that its revenue from the fourth quarter, otherwise known as the Christmas

quarter, will be short of prior estimates by between $5 billion and $9 billion. Even for Apple,

that's a very big chunk of change, and any sort of revenue miswarning is almost

unheard of for the iPhone maker. Investors, understandably, freaked out. As I taped this on

Thursday morning, shares are off nearly 10%, or $15.57% per share. Hey, Siri, what's $157.5.7 times

$4.75 billion? That would be $73,957,500's 15.57 times 4.75 billion? That would be 73,957,500,000. So what's going on? To hear Apple tell it,

this is mostly about China, where economic growth is slowed. CEO Tim Cook also said that the

ongoing trade war has had a negative impact, although it was also quick to add Apple hasn't experienced any sort of specific retaliation from the Chinese government. Now, look, to be sure,

this isn't only about China. There are certainly broader growth worries for a now saturated

smartphone market. But why it matters really is China, because Apple is viewed as a good

barometer of the broader Chinese economy. Everyone knew things

had slowed down there based on official government reports, but Apple's warning suggests that

the Chinese economy and Chinese consumer demand are decelerating faster than outsiders

recognized and maybe faster than China's government is willing to admit. That is a much louder

financial alarm bell than whatever is currently going off in

Cooper Tino or Wall Street, and it renews worries that the past decade's global economic boom

could be on a trajectory toward a bust.

In 15 seconds, we'll go deeper on all things Apple, with Axios chief technology correspondent

Inafried.

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