Amazon stock slumps as third-quarter earnings disappoint
Shares of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) are dropping after the retail giant gave investors a look at its third-quarter results late Thursday. The company fell short of analysts’ earnings expectations, but topped revenue targets.
For the three months ended September 30, Amazon made a profit of $2.1 billion, or $4.23 per share on revenue of $69.98 billion. Analysts on Wall Street expected the company to report earnings of $4.59 per share and revenue of $68.83 billion.
Prime Day deals and the roll out of its next-day delivery service helped boost sales in the quarter.
Amazon further rattled investors after issuing guidance warning that earnings are likely to slump in the holiday quarter. Shares of the company were down $92.78, or 5.21% to $1,688 in premarket trade Friday.
Indonesian investigators fault Boeing for Lion Air crash
Elsewhere, air accident investigators in Indonesia have released a final report on the Lion Air flight 610 that led to the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max planes after claiming the lives of 189 people in October last year.
According to the report, which was released on Friday morning, errors by Boeing (NYSE: BA), Lion Air and flight crews were to blame for the crash.
Lack of oversight from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also played a part in the fatal crash. Investigators said the certification and design of the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) feature in the 737 Max was “not adequate.”
Shares of Boeing were down less than a percent to $343 before the opening bell.
Futures point to a slightly higher open
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures were slightly higher on Friday as investors mulled Amazon earnings and monitored U.S.-China trade developments. On Thursday, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said that Washington “does not seek confrontation” with Beijing or contain its development.
The vice president, however, criticized China, Nike (NYSE: NKE), and the NBA over their roles in the months-long pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. He said Nike and the NBA had not been on the side of Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey after China attacked him for a tweet supporting the protests.
Pence’s comments come at a time when the Trump administration and Chinese officials are working to find a solution to their prolonged trade war.
As of 5:20 a.m. ET Friday, the blue-chip Dow futures rose 8 points, or about 0.03% to 26,788. The S&P 500 futures climbed 3.13 points, or around 0.1% to 3,007.38 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a gain of 13 points, or roughly 0.16% to 7,941.25.
