What happened
Shares of Amazon (AMZN -1.14%) were pulling back today as the Nasdaq fell following the long Christmas weekend and on mixed news, including a Bloomberg report that showed the company is still trying to unload excess delivery capacity and stronger than expected holiday sales, according to Mastercard.
As of 12:27 a.m. ET, shares were down 1.3% after falling as much as 2.6% earlier in the session.
So what
With the 2022 holiday season now in the books, Mastercard SpendingPulse reported that retail sales rose 7.5% from November 1 to December 24, essentially in line with inflation. That was better than Mastercard had predicted in September when it called for 7.1% growth, but still below last year's tally at 8.5%.
There was some good news for Amazon and its e-commerce peers as online sales outperformed brick-and-mortar, growing 10.6% versus 6.8% for physical retailers.
Separately, Bloomberg reported after hours Friday that Amazon was looking to sell excess cargo space in its planes, a further sign that it had overestimated growth following the pandemic and another example of its cost-cutting efforts in the wake of wide losses in its e-commerce division this year.
Now what
While holiday sales were likely better than some had feared, Amazon stock continues to be pressured by fears that interest rates will keep rising, consumer spending will pull back, and the economy will fall into a recession next year.
The stock is down nearly 50% this year, reflecting those fears as well as slowing growth and weakening profits. However, Amazon still has a number of competitive advantages, and the stock should bounce back once market sentiment shifts.
