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Amazon stocks surge after Q1 revenue, profit wins
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon on Thursday reported a slowdown in its cloud computing unit AWS, but stronger-than-expected revenue and profits for the first quarter sent its stocks higher in after-hours trading. The Seattle-based company said it pulled in $127.36 billion in revenue for the January-March quarter, a 9% growth compared to the $116.4 billion it reported during the same period last year. Profits came out to $3.17 billion, or 31 cents per share. The company said its profitable cloud unit AWS grew by 16% during the first quarter, much slower than a year prior. But that also beat analyst expectations.
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US economy grew at weak 1.1% rate in Q1 in sign of slowdown
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy slowed sharply from January through March, decelerating to just a 1.1% annual pace as higher interest rates hammered the housing market and businesses reduced their inventories. Thursday’s estimate from the Commerce Department showed that the nation’s gross domestic product — the broadest gauge of economic output — weakened after growing 3.2% from July through September and 2.6% from October through December. But consumer spending, which accounts for about 70% of U.S. economic activity, remained resilient, growing at a 3.7% annual pace, the fastest such rate in nearly two years. Spending on goods, in particular, was solid: It rose at its fastest pace since the second quarter of 2021.
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Rihanna, Martin Scorsese hype Paramount movies at CinemaCon
Paramount Pictures, still riding high on the success of “Top Gun: Maverick’s” nearly $1.5 billion in worldwide ticket sales, brought a slew of stars from Rihanna to Martin Scorsese to CinemaCon for its presentation to theater owners Thursday. The studio announced, for 2025, “The Spongebob Movie: Search for Squarepants” and “The Smurf Movie,” starring Rihanna as Smurfette. Other stars in attendance included Seth Rogen and John Krasinski. Paramount has fewer releases than the other big studios, but they have some big titles like “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “Transformers.” It is also handling the theatrical release of Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” in October.
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Food prices fall on world markets but not on kitchen tables
Around the world, food prices are persistently, painfully high. Puzzlingly, too. On global markets, the price of grains, vegetable oil, dairy and other agricultural commodities has fallen steadily for months. But the relief hasn’t made it to the real world of shopkeepers, street vendors and families trying to make ends meet. It’s seen in a restaurant outside Nairobi that skimps on the size of popular flatbread to save on cooking oil. Cash-strapped Pakistanis are reluctantly going vegetarian, dropping beef and chicken from their diets because they can no longer afford meat. In Budapest, Hungary, a cafe has pulled burgers and fries off the menu to dodge the high cost of oil and beef.
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Fed’s Powell was tricked by fake call from Russia pranksters
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell was tricked into an extended phone call in January with Russian pranksters posing as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during which Powell appeared to discuss the impact of interest rate hikes. Videos of the phone call have been posted on social media. In one clip, Powell says a “recession is almost as likely as very slow growth” this year. Powell has said before that the Fed’s rapid series of rate hikes would slow the economy and even potentially cause a recession. A Fed spokesperson would not say whether the phone call demonstrated that the Fed faces security lapses or what steps would be taken to try to prevent it from occurring again.
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Debt ceiling: McCarthy wins 1st round, Biden eyes long game
WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaker Kevin McCarthy surprised Washington when he united the raucous House Republican majority to pass a sweeping debt ceiling package. Next moves are more difficult, and uncertain. McCarthy’s opening bid is awaiting President Joe Biden’s response. So far, the White House is rejecting the Republican proposal for steep spending reductions as a condition for raising the debt limit. It’s the first act in what is expected to be a long summer battle over lifting the nation’s borrowing capacity. Biden and the Republicans need to find common ground or risk defaulting on the nation’s bills. Economic analysts say the money will run out by July.
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Stew Leonard Sr., founder of a regional grocer, dies at 93
Stew Leonard Sr., who founded more than 50 years ago a dairy store that became a regional grocery powerhouse under his name, died Wednesday at a New York hospital after a brief illness. Leonard Sr. was 93 years old, according to his namesake company. Leonard Sr. first worked for his family’s dairy business in Norwalk, Connecticut. In the late 1960s, he realized that the milk delivery business was becoming a thing of the past, and so he decided to build a retail dairy store where children could watch milk being bottled while parents shopped in a farmer’s market atmosphere. In December 1969, he opened a 17,000-square-foot store carrying just eight items that eventually grew into a regional grocery chain.
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Powerful new obesity drug poised to upend weight loss care
A diabetes drug being tested for weight loss is poised to further upend obesity care. Drugmaker Eli Lilly reported Thursday that tirzepatide helped people with diabetes who were overweight or had obesity lose up to 16% of their body weight over 17 months in a late-stage trial. For those without the disease, the drug has prompted losses of more than 20% of body weight. Known as Mounjaro for diabetes use, the drug has been used “off label” for weight loss since last year. Lilly is applying for fast-track approval from U.S. regulators. Analysts have predicted tirzepatide could become one of the top-selling drugs ever, with annual sales topping $50 billion.
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After weak start to year, airlines expect profitable summer
DALLAS (AP) — Most U.S. airlines lost money in the first quarter, traditionally the weakest time of year for travel, but they are all eagerly looking ahead to a summer of full planes and high fares. American Airlines and Southwest Airlines said Thursday that they expect to be solidly profitable in the second quarter. They joined Delta Air Lines and United Airlines in giving an upbeat outlook for the April-through-June period, which includes the start of the peak travel season. Southwest lost $159 million in the first quarter, and American eked out a $10 million profit.
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The S&P 500 rose 79.36 points, or 2%, to 4,135.35. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 524.59 points, or 1.6%, to 33,826.16. The Nasdaq composite rose 287.89 points, or 2.4% to 12,142.24. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 20.81 points, or 1.2%, to 1,751.22.
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