*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)
While the notoriety of the Coyote Ugly Saloon chain has always ensured customers, it is facing a new issue: service industry worker shortages.
Stocks on Wall Street lost more ground Thursday after a small early gain faded, keeping the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq headed for their first weekly decline in three weeks.
The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to 310,000, a pandemic low and a sign that the surge in COVID-19 cases caused by the delta variant has yet to lead to widespread layoffs.
Stocks are closing lower on Wall Street Wednesday following a Federal Reserve report that shows U.S. economic activity slowed this summer amid rising worries over resurgent coronavirus cases and mounting supply chain problems and labor shortages.
Solar energy has the potential to supply up to 40% of the nation’s electricity within 15 years — a 10-fold increase over current solar output, but one that would require massive changes in U.S. policy and billions of dollars in federal investment to modernize the nation's electric grid, a new federal report says.
The company overseeing the response to a large oil spill spurred by Hurricane Ida said Tuesday that a containment dome has been placed over a broken undersea pipeline, stemming the flow into the Gulf of Mexico.
Amazon to Open 2 Cashier-less Whole Foods Stores Next Year
Tech stocks lead Wall Street indexes lower in early trading
Gain-of-Function, Mexico Abortion Stunner & Album Wars
US stocks close mostly lower, but Nasdaq still inches higher
