Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's your morning brief for Friday, February 6th. I'm Daniel Bach for The Wall Street Journal. Amazon stock has slipped off hours after the company announced a nearly 60% jump in planned AI spending, far higher than Wall Street had been expecting. At the same time, cloud computing growth of 24% for the fourth quarter came in below Microsoft's 39% and Alphabet's 48%.
Amazon has said growth rates don't fully capture its standing in the industry, while it tries to convince investors that the higher spending will pay off in the long run. But that hasn't satisfied investors concerned about how much companies are shelling out on AI. They sent tech stocks lower in European and Asian markets this morning, building on a sell-off that began in U.S.
Chapter 2: Why did Amazon's stock drop after announcing increased AI spending?
software stocks yesterday, when Anthropic released another update to its chatbot, Claude. Adding to the downturn in European stocks was a more than 20 percent slide in Jeep maker Stellantis, which booked a massive write-down following disappointing demand for its EVs in the U.S. At the same time, Toyota said that its CEO is stepping down after just four months in the job.
The world's biggest carmaker has been losing market share in China and grappling with President Trump's 15 percent tariffs on cars made in Japan. The fear in markets is also dragging down U.S. futures this morning, in part over concerns around the lack of economic data, with January's jobs report not being released today as scheduled.
It's been delayed until next week because of last week's government shutdown. And we've got a lot more coverage of the day's news on the WSJ's What's News podcast. You can add it to your playlist on your smart speaker or listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.