*By Kavitha Shastry*
Amazon briefly joined the $1 trillion club Tuesday, becoming the second U.S. company to reach the milestone market cap in as many months.
The e-commerce giant saw shares rise to $2,050.50 just before noon, putting its valuation just about $100 billion behind Apple, which crossed the line a little over a month ago.
That may sound like a huge sum separating the two, but Amazon could actually surpass the iPhone maker in short order ー the stock's 74 percent gain this year is more than double that of Apple, and if shares of both companies keep the same pace, Amazon could close the gap by the end of the year.
Still, plenty of catalysts could affect the horse race ー investors will be closely watching Apple's big iPhone reveal next Wednesday, and the all-important holiday shopping season will be key for Amazon. Then, of course, there's Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet, both of which are gaining ground, with market caps of about $850 billion each.
But while Amazon's and Apple's runs created plenty of fanfare, they're not the first companies to hit the $1 trillion level. China Petroleum did so on the Hong Kong exchange back in 2007, but those shares have since plummeted, giving the one-time oil giant a current market cap of around $121 billion.
UPS recently announced it would equip delivery trucks with air conditioning. Dr. Douglas Casa, CEO of Korey Stringer Institute at the University of Connecticut, spoke with Cheddar News on the dangers of heat stroke and how workers can keep themselves safe from extreme weather.
The push for clean energy is igniting an interest in electric vehicles but charging EVs continues to be a concern for consumers looking to save. Brian Moody, executive editor with Autotrader, joined Cheddar News to discuss how people can make home-charging more affordable.
Gannett has filed a civil lawsuit against Google and its parent company Alphabet, claiming that they unlawfully hold monopolies in the advertising technology tools that publishers and advertisers use to buy and sell online ad space.
Apple, the tech giant, is trying to trademark images of apples, the fruit. The company has been pursuing the trademark since 2017, and its latest battleground is Switzerland, where its appealing a partial trademark that would only cover black-and-white depictions of Granny Smith apples.
