Amazon stock recovers following tariff scuffle with Trump White House

AMZN shares recover in light of tariff listing denial.
CNN claims Donald Trump called Bezos to complain about tariff policy.
Amazon claims that publishing tariffs separately from product costs was never considered on the main website.
Evercore ISI argues that Amazon will prioritize holding onto market share in light of tariffs.

Clay Webster FXStreet

Amazon (AMZN) stock has recovered nearly all of its sell-off on Tuesday after the Trump administration grew irate over an article reporting that the online retailer was planning on specifying tariff costs separately on its marketplace. Amazon has denied the story, which was first reported by Punchbowl News, by around lunchtime.

A Trump spokesperson said she had discussed the article with Trump and called it a "hostile and political act". Then CNN reported that Trump had personally called Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to complain about the policy. Bezos has long since retired after handing the reins to CEO Andy Jassy, but it appears that the phone call worked.

By the afternoon, Amazon was telling reporters that listing tariff costs for consumers was considered by Amazon subsidiary Amazon Haul, which directly competes with China's Temu, but never for the main website.

The news had sent AMZN stock down more than 2% at the open on Tuesday, but the stock recovered to near even at $187.54 by the close. Amazon sources a significant proportion of its goods from factories in China that are mostly subject to the Trump administration's 145% tariff.

For its part, Evercore ISI's head of internet research, Mark Mahaney, used the news merry-go-round to seize on a point. Amazon will need to eat the tariffs and lose operating margin or else lose market share, according to Mahaney.

Mahaney argued in his client note that Amazon will prioritize market share and thus faces tightening margins if the tariffs stay in place.

Amazon reports earnings on Thursday for the first quarter, and Wall Street is expecting adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.36 on revenue of $155.1 billion.

AMZN daily stock chart

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Author

Clay Webster

FXStreet

Clay Webster grew up in the US outside Buffalo, New York and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He began investing after college following the 2008 financial crisis.

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