NEW YORK, June 23, 2026, 09:06 EDT
Amazon.com shares slipped in early premarket action on Tuesday as Prime Day kicked off, putting the stock in focus during a pullback in big tech names. The stock traded at $231.20, off 0.7%, in delayed premarket action at 8:13 a.m. EDT. It finished Monday at $232.79, down 4.75%. Premarket trading refers to the window before the U.S. open.
Amazon’s Prime Day is set for June 23-26, putting the event in the spotlight. Bank of America projects gross merchandise value at $21.6 billion, the total price of goods before fees or returns. “People just don’t have the cash right now,” William Stern, CEO of Cardiff, told Reuters. Reuters
This is why the event gets attention outside Amazon’s core retail business. It can give investors a quick look at whether U.S. consumers are spending or just holding out for sales on basics, groceries and back-to-school goods.
AI spending is the other concern for the market after shopping.
Nasdaq 100 set to drop over $1 trillion as tech shares slide; Amazon, Alphabet fall in early trading
Tech stocks traded lower Tuesday, putting the Nasdaq 100 on track to lose more than $1 trillion in market value, according to Reuters. Amazon fell 1% and Alphabet dropped 2.1% in premarket trading. Cloud giants have poured billions into AI infrastructure, but investors are still looking for firmer proof the outlays will deliver.
Nasdaq 100 futures dropped over 2% as traders weighed tighter rate expectations and tech jitters. “The move looks more like a sentiment-driven correction than a fundamental shift,” said Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com, talking about the AI and earnings story. Reuters
Amazon reported first-quarter net sales up 17% at $181.5 billion, with Amazon Web Services up 28% to $37.6 billion. CEO Andy Jassy said, “AWS is growing 28%,” and called it the company’s fastest pace in 15 quarters. Amazon
Amazon’s growth comes with a cost. The company is forecasting around $200 billion in capital spending this year, compared to $131 billion projected for 2025. Capex covers big-ticket items like data centers, chips, and logistics. Microsoft and Alphabet also see investor pressure, but Amazon’s size in retail means the trade-off is more pronounced.
Prime Day online sales are forecast to hit $26.3 billion as U.S. shoppers spend more, Adobe Analytics says, citing EMARKETER. That’s a 9% jump from last year’s four-day stretch. Buy now, pay later is on track for $2.04 billion of that spend, showing demand continues but shoppers remain cautious.
Amazon is trying to boost Alexa for Shopping this Prime Day. It says Alexa can now build personalized deal guides, set price alerts, auto-buy at your chosen price and display up to 365 days of price history. The company is clearly hoping AI will drive more shoppers to check out.
Still, Amazon shares are likely to move more on AI results than Prime Day headlines. David Wagner at Aptus Capital Advisors said investors are dividing the AI field into those “receiving the checks” and those “writing the checks.” Amazon is mostly in the writers’ group. Reuters
But the risk is clear. If customers stick to essentials, put more on buy-now-pay-later, and hold off on bigger items, Prime Day might see heavy volumes but margins could disappoint. And if investors still worry about AI spending, solid sales for the week might not move the stock.
Amazon’s first major summer event is coming off less as a sales push and more as a stress test. Consumers, AI budgets, and the stock all go in the mix. The company still needs both the retail and AI angles to hit.
