NEW YORK, March 12, 2026, 14:16 EDT
Amazon.com slid 1.4% to $209.77 by Thursday afternoon, weighed down by another mix of headlines hitting the stock on both sides of the Atlantic, stretching from Europe over to Washington.
That slump stings, especially with Amazon still reeling from the fallout of its February earnings. CEO Andy Jassy, in the latest statement, described “strong demand” but also set out plans to pour roughly $200 billion into 2026 spending. The move rekindled debate: how fast will all that artificial-intelligence spending show up in profits? SEC
Amazon jumped into the debt markets this week, seeking roughly $37 billion through an 11-part U.S. bond deal, according to Reuters. Peak demand for the bonds reportedly hit $126 billion—an indication that debt investors seem less wary of the company’s spending ambitions than their equity counterparts.
Thursday’s session started rough. Wall Street’s main indexes slipped over 1% as oil prices shot up near $100 and jitters over private credit hit nerves. Meta and Alphabet lost ground, with Microsoft off slightly.
Amazon just landed another legal headache in Europe. Prosecutors in Milan are seeking to bring Amazon’s European arm and four of its managers to trial, accusing them of dodging roughly 1.2 billion euros in VAT—essentially a sales tax—from 2019 through 2021. This comes despite Amazon hammering out a settlement with Italy’s tax authority last December. Investigators allege that Amazon’s marketplace setup enabled certain non-EU sellers to skip the tax entirely.
Senator Elizabeth Warren is pressing CEO Andy Jassy for answers on how Amazon Business sets its prices, following an advocacy group’s report that spotted big pricing differences for identical office supplies purchased by local governments and nearby schools. Warren argued that the company’s algorithm-driven dynamic pricing—prices that fluctuate depending on who’s buying and when—could saddle public agencies with “ever-changing” costs for basic items. Reuters
Some signs haven’t pointed down. On Thursday, Amazon announced a 23 billion zloty ($6.23 billion) commitment to Poland for 2026-2028—a move EU Stores vice president Mariangela Marseglia called “accelerating.” One day before, Amazon’s Zoox arm landed a multiyear robotaxi arrangement with Uber, kicking off in Las Vegas this summer. Zoox, though, still trails Waymo, run by Alphabet, on actual deployment. Reuters
But returns remain front and center for investors. Analysts at MoffettNathanson point out that Amazon likely wouldn’t put this much money on the line unless it was confident in demand—yet they caution, “the margin of error is shrinking” as AI spending balloons. Reuters
That note of caution has lingered ever since February’s numbers. Dave Wagner at Aptus Capital Advisors pointed out the market’s unease with how much cash Amazon is funneling into capex at this pace. D.A. Davidson’s Gil Luria, for his part, argued the company can’t let up on big investments if it wants to remain in the race.
For Amazon investors, the immediate worry is straightforward: rising oil prices, softer risk appetite, and ongoing legal or political headwinds could weigh on shares even if the debt deal is seamless. Reuters’ stock data continues to flag an Outperform rating for AMZN, but the market wants firmer evidence that betting big on AI will pay off.
