The Finance 202: 'We're jittery right now.' Amazon sell-off reflects market's sensitivity to Trump headlines
In case anybody needed a clearer message that Wall Street is newly keyed in to risks out of Washington, President Trump’s private fuming over Amazon just torched more than $31 billion of the company’s market value.
The online retail giant’s stock tanked Wednesday following an Axios reportthat Trump is “obsessed” with the company and muses about targeting its tax treatment or building an antitrust case against it. Amazon shares fell as much as 7.4 percent before recovering somewhat to close down 4 percent.
The report shouldn't have surprised the market, but the president's gripes point to potentially serious challenges for the company.
Market watchers fit the investor freakout into a broader turn against highflying tech giants that are coming in for new regulatory scrutiny. Before the Amazon sell-off, the Facebook user-data controversy and the fallout from a driverless Uber test car involved in a fatal crash have dragged stocks lower in the past several days.
“We’re jittery right now,” says Wolfe Research managing director Scott Mushkin, who covers Amazon’s stock. “Stocks have been higher since the election, and there’s been a lot of euphoria over the corporate tax cuts. But the general concern around the growing power of the tech sector and what the government may do about it has been an undertone for a while … There’s nothing fundamentally that’s changed today from yesterday.”
In case anybody needed a clearer message that Wall Street is newly keyed in to risks out of Washington, President Trump’s private fuming over Amazon just torched more than $31 billion of the company’s market value.
The online retail giant’s stock tanked Wednesday following an Axios reportthat Trump is “obsessed” with the company and muses about targeting its tax treatment or building an antitrust case against it. Amazon shares fell as much as 7.4 percent before recovering somewhat to close down 4 percent.
The report shouldn't have surprised the market, but the president's gripes point to potentially serious challenges for the company.
Market watchers fit the investor freakout into a broader turn against highflying tech giants that are coming in for new regulatory scrutiny. Before the Amazon sell-off, the Facebook user-data controversy and the fallout from a driverless Uber test car involved in a fatal crash have dragged stocks lower in the past several days.
“We’re jittery right now,” says Wolfe Research managing director Scott Mushkin, who covers Amazon’s stock. “Stocks have been higher since the election, and there’s been a lot of euphoria over the corporate tax cuts. But the general concern around the growing power of the tech sector and what the government may do about it has been an undertone for a while … There’s nothing fundamentally that’s changed today from yesterday.”
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source:https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-finance-202/2018/03/29/the-finance-202-we-re-jittery-right-now-amazon-sell-off-reflects-market-s-sensitivity-to-trump-headlines/5abc0f8130fb042a378a2f2b/?utm_term=.7c7c72fba6af
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