Amazon Takes Market Cap Crown

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From The Wall Street Journal:

Amazon.com Inc. is the latest technology titan to claim the crown of world’s most valuable public company, signaling the industry’s enduring market dominance even after turbulent months in which investors pummeled their shares.

Amazon finished Monday’s session up 3.4% at $1,629.51, with a market capitalization of about $795 billion, the first time the retailer has attained the market-cap title. It ended a weekslong reign by Microsoft Corp. , which finished flat with a value of roughly $785 billion.

The software giant in late November supplanted Apple Inc., for years the leader before worries about iPhone sales—exacerbated by the company’s revenue warning last week—knocked it to No 4, behind Google-parent Alphabet Inc. at about $745 billion.

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Monday’s rise on Wall Street was driven by hope over a new round of trade talks between Washington and Beijing. The S&P 500 rose 0.7%, climbing for the sixth time in the last eight sessions. Amazon shares are up 8.5% in the past week, rebounding from a brutal stretch.

Amazon’s 25% slide last quarter—its largest such drop in a decade—has pushed investors to scoop up beaten-down shares to start 2019, analysts say. Despite fears of slowing growth, the e-commerce giant is projected to show fourth-quarter sales up 20% from a year earlier when it reports earnings in the coming weeks, according to FactSet.

Tech stocks are well below their peaks—Apple was valued above $1.1 trillion at its apex in October, while Amazon touched $1 trillion midday before closing below it in September. But they remain far more valuable than the most valuable companies in other parts of the U.S. economy.

Link to the rest at The Wall Street Journal