*By Michael Teich*
Amazon inked a new partnership with American Express, but don't expect the financial industry to be the next area the tech giant jumps into.
"The thing that people misunderstand is that tech companies don't want to manufacture financial products," said Lex Sokolin, Global Director of Fintech Strategy at Autonomous Research. "It's about making the ecosystem and the platform more powerful, and finance is just a feature inside of that."
American Express announced Tuesday it will launch a co-branded Amazon credit card for small businesses. The move accelerates Amazon's foray into financial products and strengthens its position as a lender. The goal, Sokolin said, is to enable small businesses to finance their activities, getting more products on Amazon's platform, and ultimately driving more commerce.
Plus, the opportunity costs of devoting itself to the financial industry are too high.
"Amazon has tremendous high-growth, super interesting, blue oceans to explore,” he said. "They could be investing in building a mortgage business, or they can build artificial intelligence business."
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/amazon-bolsters-financial-prowess-with-new-credit-card)
Burns McKinney, portfolio manager at NFJ Investment Group, discusses how the Fed is balancing recession risks and interest rate cuts, plus whether the tech rally will broaden.
Nick Wolny, CNet editor, tells consumers about BNPL being added to credit reports – and why they may want to be more cautious about using it as an option.
Co-founders of 1953 Tequila, Shivam Mallick Shah and Lindsey Davis Stover, share how they broke into the traditionally male-dominated world of tequila production.
In case you needed yet another incentive to cram all your travel items into a carry-on, Delta Airlines has just boosted the cost of your first checked bag by 17 percent.
