*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)
Massachusetts’ governor has activated the state’s National Guard to help with busing students to school as districts across the country struggle to hire enough drivers.
Amazon is looking to offer an average starting wage of more than $18 per hour to fill some transportation and fulfillment roles, with some of the positions receiving up to $22.50 hourly.
Stocks went back to falling on Wall Street Tuesday after a blip higher the day before, giving the S&P 500 its sixth loss in the last seven trading days.
If you want to dine indoors, go to a gym or attend an event at an entertainment venue in New York, you'll need to show proof that you have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
"The business has gone down at least 35 to 40 percent, and we expect it to go down a little more," said Pedro Zamora, owner of Cantina Rooftop in Manhattan. "But on the other hand, I feel good to do that because it's the way to end the pandemic, and I urge everyone if you aren't vaccinated to get vaccinated as soon as possible because it's only for the good of our community."
Invitae CEO Sean George joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss the company's acquisition of Ciitizen for $325 million, and how its patient data platform will provide even better results for both patients and their doctors. Invitae works to aggregate results from the world's genetic tests into a single, easy-to-use service, and Ciitizen's global data platform will help Invitae become a health technology and software leader.
The CEO of Salesforce said the company will help employees leave Texas, and he did so while retweeting a story linking the offer to concern about Texas’ new anti-abortion law.
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
Bitcoin officially became legal tender in El Salvador on Tuesday despite international skepticism and pushback. Measuring the success of that experiment requires looking at one of the main indicators in El Salvador's economy: remittances.
Stocks gave up an early gain and turned lower Friday, remaining on track for weekly losses in this holiday-shortened week.
A bulk carrier vessel became wedged Thursday in Egypt’s Suez Canal, briefly blocking traffic in one lane of crucial global waterway, Egyptian authorities said.
