Amazon stock jumps 4.8 per cent ahead of its annual Prime Day shopping event on October 13 and 14
Wall Street ended sharply higher on Monday, fuelled by expectations of a coronavirus relief package and by a rally in Amazon, Apple and other technology stocks ahead of quarterly earnings season, and Prime Day.
Amazon rallied 4.8 per cent ahead of its annual Prime Day shopping event on October 13 and 14.
The company does not reveal revenue for the annual event, but it will certainly lead to a big pay day for CEO Jeff Bezos. Some analysts are expecting close to $10 billion in sales over the two days.
Prime Day, which features deals on many products on Amazon.com, began in 2015 as a celebration of Amazon’s 20th year in business.
It turned into a summer sales holiday designed to generate additional business for Amazon before the holiday shopping season.
This year, Amazon postponed the sales event from its usual July time slot because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Last year Amazon said it sold more than 175 million items during the 2019 Prime Day – more than its sales for the past Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.
Sales were estimated by Digital Commerce 360 at $7.2 billion.
A ‘record number’ of Prime members in the U.S., who pay an annual fee of $119 to get perks like free shipping and access to Prime Day, shopped the event in 2019, Amazon said.
Amazon said it sold over 100,000 laptops, 200,000 televisions, 300,000 headphones, 350,000 luxury beauty products and more than 1 million toys on Prime Day 2019.
Amazon was not the only stock soaring on Monday.
Apple Inc jumped 6.4 per cent, adding $128 billion to its stock market value, ahead of an event on Tuesday, when it is expected to unveil its newest iPhones.
Microsoft jumped 2.6 per cent, helping lift the S&P 500 information technology index 2.7 per cent.
The S&P 500 was about 1 per cent below its record closing high from September 2, nearly recovering from most of a 9 per cent pullback last month.
The market leaders are once again the tech names, supported by the fact that the economy continues to expand, said Phil Blancato, chief executive of Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management in New York.
Optimistic sentiment dominated after the Trump administration on Sunday called on Congress to pass a stripped-down coronavirus relief bill as negotiations on a broader package ran into resistance.
It looks like the administration wants a deal done before the election, said Brian Battle, director of trading at Performance Trust Capital Partners in Chicago.
