- Prabowo set to lead bolder Indonesia on world stage
- Tampa zoo rushes Chompers the porcupine and others to safety as Milton nears
- Shanghai stocks pare early surge on stimulus worries amid Asia retreat
- New Japan PM to hold talks on ASEAN sidelines
- Record number of climbers chase 14-peak dream in Tibet
- Former South Korea clinic for US 'comfort women' to be demolished
- China holds off on fresh stimulus but 'confident' will hit growth target
- Chiefs battle past Saints to stay unbeaten
- Deal on climate aid hangs in balance at UN COP29 summit
- Royals hit back against Yankees, Tigers maul Guardians
- German suspect in 'Maddie' case faces verdict in sex crimes trial
- Top economic official 'confident' China will hit 2024 growth target
- COP29 fight looms over climate funds for developing world
- Shanghai stocks soar to extend stimulus rally amid Asia-wide drop
- Australia moves to expand Antarctic marine park
- Tragedy of Madrid street sweeper highlights how heatwaves kill
- Survivors wait for aid as Trump's lies help cloud Helene response
- Fleeing Israeli bombs, Lebanon's displaced met with suspicion
- Jila Mossaed, from refugee poet to Swedish Academy
- Will Tesla's robotaxi reveal live up to hype?
- Drugs, people smuggling at heart of Mexico's raging violence
- 'Invisibility' and quantum computing tipped for physics Nobel
- Musk says he is 'all in' on Trump in US election
- Category 5 Hurricane Milton roars towards storm-battered Florida
- Carpenter bomb stuns Guardians as Tigers level series
- Harris, Trump and Biden mark Oct. 7 attacks as US election looms
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street falls
- US judge orders Google to open Android to rival app stores
- On attacks anniversary, Israel fights 'sacred' multi-front war
- Nobel scientist uncovered tiny genetic switches with big potential
- Grammy-winning Cissy Houston, mother of Whitney, dies at 91
- UN biodiversity summit in Colombia aims to turn words into action
- Georgia Supreme Court reinstates six-week abortion ban
- 'Dark day': Victims mourned around the globe on Oct. 7 anniversary
- On attacks anniversary, Israel fights multi-front war
- Mexican mayor murdered days after taking office
- Intensifying to Category 5, Hurricane Milton targets Florida
- Mission to probe smashed asteroid launches despite hurricane
- Biden, Harris mark Oct. 7 with call for Mideast peace
- Dupont set for Toulouse return after post-Olympic holiday
- French rugby bosses tighten discipline after nightmare Argentina tour
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street slips
- Visitors to get rare view of Rome's Trevi Fountain
- Europe's asteroid mission Hera launches despite hurricane
- Man City and Premier League both claim victory in legal case
- Deschamps delight as 'light back on' for Pogba after doping ban
- Biden, Harris urge Mideast peace on Oct. 7 anniversary
- Neeskens, tough midfielder in Cruyff's Ajax and Dutch teams
- UN warns world's water cycle becoming ever more erratic
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street retreats
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Amazon warns of meager holiday season sales growth
Amazon on Thursday predicted a slowdown in sales growth during the year-end holiday shopping season, sending shares in the e-commerce colossus tumbling.
Sales could grow as little as 2 percent in the final three months of this year, the company said, crimped by a strong US dollar that makes products more expensive in other countries.
Amazon shares plunged some 20 percent in after-market trades but regained some ground, down about 14 percent to $95.32 at 2130 GMT.
The company nevertheless returned to profit in the third quarter after two consecutive quarters of losses, with a net profit of $2.87 billion for the period from July to September, according to the statement issued Thursday.
Sales in the recently ended third quarter increased 15 percent to $127.1 billion, compared with $110.8 billion during the same period a year earlier, it reported.
Customer response to big Amazon sales events in the past four months has been "quite positive" and "it's clear that particularly during these uncertain economic times, customers appreciate Amazon's continued focus on value and convenience," said chief executive Andy Jassy.
US tech giants that long seemed impervious to broad economic ills have seen their armor crack this year, with slowing growth and revenue eroding the faith of investors and their share prices.
While it has a lucrative AWS cloud computing unit and its Prime video offering, Amazon is a retailer at heart, noted independent tech analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group.
"When people are having a hard time making ends meet, retail tends to take a hit," Enderle said.
And while founder and former chief executive Jeff Bezos was savvy about retail, "he went off to play with rockets" at his Blue Origin enterprise leaving Amazon in the hands of Jassy, known for his cloud computing prowess, the analyst added.
"Amazon is not a cloud company, it is a retail company, and a cloud computing guy is in charge," Enderle contended.
Meta and Google parent Alphabet both saw share prices tank after disappointing quarterly earnings, as global economic woes along with competition undermined the digital ad revenue powering their money-making engines.
Even business tech stalwart Microsoft saw share prices drop after it released earnings figures showing economic conditions were also tightening budgets when it comes to customers of its cloud, software and services offerings.
F.Schneider--AMWN