Market Overview - Major indices declined, with the Dow Jones down 109.88 points (0.23%) to 47,522.12, the Nasdaq down 377.33 points (1.57%) to 23,581.14, and the S&P 500 down 68.24 points (0.99%) to 6,822.35 [1] - Technology stocks and Bitcoin fell, while gold rose above $4,000 [1] Commodity Prices - Light crude oil futures for December rose by $0.09 to $60.57 per barrel (0.15% increase), while Brent crude oil futures increased by $0.08 to $65.00 per barrel (0.12% increase) [2] - Gold surged by 2.44% to $4,024.76, with Wells Fargo raising its 2026 gold price target from $3,900-$4,100 to $4,500-$4,700 per ounce [3] Economic Policy - The U.S. Senate voted 51-47 to terminate Trump's national emergency for global tariffs, with four Republican senators breaking ranks [4] - The Federal Reserve's Vice Chair for Supervision, Bowman, plans to reduce the bank regulatory department's staff by 30% by 2026, aligning with broader regulatory rollbacks [5] Corporate News - Amazon's Q3 earnings exceeded expectations, with EPS at $1.95 (above the $1.57 forecast) and revenue at $180.2 billion (surpassing the $177.9 billion estimate), leading to an 11% after-hours stock increase [8] - Apple's Q4 revenue reached $102.47 billion, exceeding expectations, with strong demand for the iPhone 17 series, despite initial supply constraints [8] - Nvidia plans to invest up to $1 billion in AI startup Poolside, potentially quadrupling its valuation [9] - Meta's bond issuance received a record $125 billion in subscriptions, reflecting strong market demand for corporate bonds in the AI sector [10] - Tesla's Cybertruck has faced its tenth recall, involving 6,197 vehicles due to potential installation issues with off-road light bars [11]

Core Insights - Amazon Web Services (AWS) experienced a significant outage that disrupted internet services for millions of users across various sectors, highlighting the vulnerability of global economic infrastructure [1][2][5] - The outage lasted approximately 13 hours and was attributed to a technical update that incorrectly configured DNS information for the widely used DynamoDB database service [2][3] - The incident underscores the high dependency on major cloud service providers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, raising concerns about the risks associated with such concentration in the cloud services market [3][4] Summary by Sections Incident Details - AWS faced a major outage starting around 3 AM EST on the 20th, affecting numerous companies and resulting in over 8 million reports of service disruptions, primarily from the US and UK [2] - The outage was linked to a technical update that caused the DynamoDB service to go offline at a critical data center in Northern Virginia, which serves a large portion of the US East Coast [2][3] Economic Impact - While the total economic loss from the outage is not yet fully assessed, similar past incidents have led to claims and lawsuits amounting to millions of dollars [3] - Logistics service company Parcelhero estimated that the outage could result in billions of dollars in lost sales and ongoing supply chain disruptions [3] Industry Implications - The incident has prompted discussions about the need for diversification in cloud services to mitigate risks associated with reliance on a few major providers [4][5] - Some companies that had already diversified their cloud service usage managed to avoid complete outages during this incident [5] Local Demand for Cloud Services - The outage may accelerate the demand for local cloud services, with European officials advocating for critical data to be hosted within Europe and managed by EU-based companies [6] - The incident could also impact Chinese enterprises that rely on foreign cloud services, highlighting the need for improved domestic cloud infrastructure and regulatory measures [6]

Core Viewpoint - The article discusses the performance of major U.S. stock indices, the earnings reports of Apple and Amazon, and the fluctuations in gold prices, highlighting both positive and negative aspects of the market [1][3][6]. Group 1: Stock Market Performance - On Thursday, all three major U.S. stock indices closed higher, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 achieving an "eight-day winning streak" [1][5]. - The Dow Jones increased by 83.60 points (0.21%) to close at 40,752.96 points, the Nasdaq rose by 264.40 points (1.52%) to 17,710.74 points, and the S&P 500 gained 35.08 points (0.63%) to finish at 5,604.14 points [5]. - Major tech stocks mostly rose, with Microsoft up over 7%, Meta up more than 4%, and Amazon up over 3% [5]. Group 2: Earnings Reports of Apple and Amazon - Apple reported a revenue of $95.36 billion for the second fiscal quarter, a 5.1% year-over-year increase, exceeding the expected $94.59 billion [11]. - However, Apple's revenue from Greater China was disappointing at $16 billion, down 2.3% year-over-year, and below the expected $16.83 billion, marking it as the only region with a decline [11]. - Amazon's first-quarter revenue was $155.67 billion, an 8.6% year-over-year increase, surpassing the analyst expectation of $155.16 billion [12]. - Amazon's cloud computing division, AWS, reported a revenue growth of 17%, slightly below the expected 17.2% [12]. - For the second quarter, Amazon projected revenue between $159 billion and $164 billion, lower than the analyst expectation of $161.42 billion [12]. Group 3: Gold Price Fluctuations - Gold prices experienced a significant drop, with spot gold falling below $3,220.00 per ounce during intraday trading [6]. - By the end of trading in New York, spot gold was down 1.52% to $3,238.88 per ounce, while COMEX gold futures fell 2.19% to $3,246.90 per ounce [6].