Why Amazon Shares Are Falling

Amazon.com Inc AMZN stock fell Wednesday afternoon following Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's warning that new trade tariffs could exacerbate inflation and slow U.S. economic growth.

What To Know: Powell's remarks, delivered at the Economic Club of Chicago, cited a deterioration in consumer and business sentiment—key factors for Amazon's retail and cloud businesses.

Higher import costs from tariffs may directly raise prices on Amazon's vast e-commerce platform, especially for electronics, clothing, and home goods often sourced from abroad.

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If passed on to consumers, these price hikes could dampen demand. Additionally, slower growth may hit Amazon Web Services (AWS), its most profitable segment, as businesses delay IT spending amid economic uncertainty.

Powell's indication that the Fed may hold off on rate cuts due to lingering inflation pressures also weighed on tech stocks broadly. Amazon, with its high valuation and sensitivity to interest rates, could become less attractive to growth-focused investors in a rising-rate or stagflationary environment.

Price Action: Amazon shares are trading lower by 4.10% to $172.22 late Wednesday.

How To Buy AMZN Stock

By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for Amazon – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.

Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy “fractional shares,” which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share.

In the case of Amazon, which is trading at $172.22 as of publishing time, $100 would buy you 0.58 shares of stock.

If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to “go short” a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.

According to data from Benzinga Pro, AMZN has a 52-week high of $242.52 and a 52-week low of $151.61.