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 Amazon reported third-quarter revenue and earnings Thursday that came in well ahead of consensus estimates, and analysts remain bullish on the e-commerce stock going into the holiday quarter. Amazon Analysts On Prime, Sales Trends: Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) had strong sales growth for several product categories including hard lines, consumables, soft lines and media, Raymond James analyst Aaron Kessler said in a note. Prime member engagement was strong, with members shopping more frequently and across more categories.Kessler has an Outperform on Amazon with a $3,500 price target.Needham analyst Laura Martin views Amazon as "the catalyst for an earlier holiday shopping season this year, starting with Prime Day on Oct 13-14th."Martin, who has a Buy rating on Amazon with a $3,700 price target, said the fourth quarter is off to a strong start, with third-party sellers seeing 60% higher sales year-over-year for the two days of Prime Day.Amazon Adverting Takeaways: The advertising segment for Amazon is represented in its "other" segment and was a highlight in many analyst updates Friday. "Ad revenue grew to nearly $5B in 3Q20, suggesting AMZN is hiding a business worth about $500B in the public markets in its other sales line," said Martin.KeyBanc analyst Edward Yruma called advertising a "key driver of profitability" for Amazon."Amazon has turned that traffic (AWS) into valuable real estate for advertisers, and in turn, had strong advertising performance in 3Q," the analyst said. Related Link: Jim Cramer On Big Tech Earnings, W
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 If there were any doubts left about whether the market would be "risk-on" or "risk-off" going into the election, Friday's selloff pretty much iced it. The toggle has switched to the off position.The late-week meltdown ignited after earnings from four of the five FAANGs that were mostly positive, but perhaps lacking in the guidance department (see more below). Combine that with the resurgence of COVID-19, the Senate adjourning with no more progress on a stimulus package, and the culmination of a long and contentious election season, and it's no wonder investors seem ready for a break. Even before FAANG earnings officially put things on ice, many investors showed signs of risk aversion ahead of the election. That made itself pretty clear with selloffs on Monday and Wednesday. Major indices suffered their worst week since March, and now people are openly making comparisons between this pre-election skid and the one we saw heading into the 2016 election.As noted this morning, keep an eye on futures Sunday night into Monday, and especially on Tuesday night as returns come in. Election night 2016 was a wild one for the futures market, featuring a steep plunge when it initially looked like results might be contested, followed by a meteoric rally when it became clear there'd be a victor without much fuss or muss.A wild ride could play out this time if things look testy by late Tuesday night. Or, if it looks relatively smooth, stocks could get a lift. It's arguably not so
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The usual store of worries -- election uncertainty, COVID's resurgence and stalled stimulus -- no doubt weighed large on investors during a broadly brutal Friday for U.S. equities.
But Big Tech gets a special nod for its role in dragging down the wider market.
SEE MORE 15 Dividend-Paying Stocks to Sell or Avoid
Apple (AAPL) slightly topped earnings expectations, but shares slumped 5.6% amid a 20% decline in quarterly sales and a lack of forward-looking guidance.
It wasn't all bad. "The bang-bang launches of iPad Air, Watch series 6, the service bundles, and the new 5G iPhones in autumn show that Apple is firing on all cylinders," writes Argus Research's Jim Kelleher (Buy, $150 price target), who adds that "the September iPad and Watch launch and the October iPhone launch should drive momentum for Apple products heading into the holiday season."
Facebook's (FB) top and bottom lines easily exceeded estimates, but declining volume of U.S. and Canadian users triggered a 6.3% exodus from shares. And Amazon.com (AMZN)? A Street-beating 37% jump in revenues, and profits that were 67% better than estimates … but the stock sank 5.5% thanks to disappointing Q4 earnings estimates amid high COVID-related costs.
"None of Thursday's tech earnings results were bad, and some were spectacular," says David Bahnsen, chief investment officer of wealth management firm The Bahnsen Group, "but the mar
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 (Bloomberg) -- When talking about the biggest company in the world, it's not unusual for there to be eye-popping numbers. But Apple Inc.'s latest superlative is not one investors would like to see.Since becoming the first American company to surpass $2 trillion in market value in August and peaking last month, the iPhone maker has lost $450 billion, wiped out by a 19% slump. The latest bout of selling -- a 5.6% drop on Friday -- took out more than $120 billion alone. Apple's now worth $1.85 trillion and still the most valuable U.S. company, but the amount shaved from its ledger since its September peak is more than the entire market cap of Visa Inc., the seventh largest member of the S&P 500, and greater than the value of Thailand's stock exchange.The drawdown comes as the tech giant reported iPhone sales that missed analysts' estimates and gave no forecast for the holiday quarter. Fiscal fourth-quarter revenue from the iPhone was $26.4 billion, compared to expectations of $27.1 billion.The Nasdaq 100 Index plunged 2.6% on Friday and had its worst week since the coronavirus-induced selloff in March. Disappointing sales forecasts from tech companies like Apple, Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. are sparking worries about further growth potential in the names that led this year's rebound.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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 The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus illness COVID-19 headed toward 229,000 on Friday and cases edged toward 9 million, with infections climbing in all swing states just days ahead of the presidential election.
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 Stocks pared losses but still closed lower on Friday to end an ugly week on a down note, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average booking its biggest monthly drop since March as investors reacted to rising COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and Europe. Nervousness ahead of Tuesday's presidential election -- and the potential for an unclear or contested outcome -- was also seen contributing to increased volatility, analysts said, with all three major indexes seeing their biggest weekly declines since the worst of the pandemic-inspired selloff in March. The Dow fell around 157 points, or 0.6%, to end near 26,502, according to preliminary figures, while the S&P 500 lost around 40 points, or 1.2%, to finish near 3,270 and the Nasdaq Composite gave up around 274 points, or 2.4%, closing near 10,912. The S&P 500 ended the week down 5.6% and fell 2.8% for the month, while the Dow booked a 6.5% weekly fall and a 4.6% monthly drop. Friday's decline saw the Nasdaq turn negative for the month, falling 2.3%. The index was down 5.5% for the week.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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