In one of the busiest days for earnings this quarter, Amazon, Snap, and Google parent company Alphabet all posted results after the bell Thursday.
Here's what you need to know about the numbers.
**Amazon ($AMZN)**
* The e-commerce giant posted earnings well above analyst expectations, with profit coming in at $5.75 a share vs. forecasts for $3.14.
* Revenues, though, fell short of expectations, rising 29 percent to $56.6 billion. Analysts were looking for sales of $57.1 billion.
* The company's cloud business continued to shine. Amazon Web Services posted revenues of $6.7 billion, up more than 45 percent from a year ago.
* Ad sales more than doubled to $2.5 billion, and revenue from subscription services like Prime rose 50 percent to $3.7 billion.
* Shares fell as much as 5 percent after the results.
* The stock is down nearly 20 percent since the company briefly hit the $1 trillion market cap in late August.
**Alphabet ($GOOGL)**
* Google's parent company beat analyst expectations for both earnings and revenue. Net income rose to $9.2 billion from $6.73 billion a year ago, while sales rose more than 20 percent to $33.7 billion.
* Ad revenues rose 20 percent to nearly $29 billion, but traffic acquisition costs (TAC), a measure of how much the company pays its ad partners, were also up to $6.6 billion. Rising TAC can be a worry to investors, as it might signal pressure on margins.
* Separately, Google also made headlines Thursday after a [New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/25/technology/google-sexual-harassment-andy-rubin.html?action=click&contentCollection=technology®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront) report detailing how the company covered up an investigation into sexual harassment claims against former exec Andy Rubin, considered the "Father of Android." The tech giant reportedly gave him a $90 million exit package, even though its probe supported the accusations.
* In a letter to employees, CEO Sundar Pichai responded to the report, saying the company had fired 48 people, including 13 senior execs, because of sexual harassment claims over the last two years.
* Alphabet shares were down as much as 7 percent after hours.
**Snap ($SNAP)**
* Shares of the social messaging app company were choppy after its earnings report, first spiking 5 percent higher before reversing course.
* The company posted better than expected revenue of $298 million, compared to forecasts for $283 million. It also reported a smaller-than-expected loss of $0.12 a share.
* But the company continues to shed users after its widely-panned app redesign announced last November. Daily active users came in at 186 million for the third quarter, up from 178 million last year, but down from 188 million in the previous quarter. That marked its second straight decline in usership.
* Things don't appear to be getting better for the fourth quarter ー Snap said revenue at the end of the year would be between $355 million and $380 million, mostly below analyst estimates of $371 million. The company said that factors in a sequential loss in earnings.
* Earlier this year, [Cheddar reported](https://cheddar.com/videos/snap-ceo-evan-spiegel-company-memo-on-2019-strategic-goals-and-profitability) that Snap CEO Evan Spiegel had set a goal of being profitable next year.
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
