NEW YORK, December 30, 2025, 10:20 ET — Regular session
- Amazon shares dipped about 0.1% in morning trade after a U.S. appeals court rebuffed its NLRB challenge.
- The ruling keeps a labor-board case over contracted delivery drivers on track, as broader challenges to the agency mount.
- Investors are watching the Fed’s December meeting minutes due at 2 p.m. ET for clues on the 2026 rate path.
Amazon.com Inc shares were slightly lower on Tuesday after a U.S. appeals court said it could not hear the company’s challenge to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) as it sought to halt a case linked to delivery drivers employed by a contractor. Amazon stock was down about 0.1% at $231.82, versus a previous close of $232.07, after trading between $230.18 and $232.32.
The decision keeps the dispute inside the NLRB, the U.S. agency that oversees private-sector labor relations and adjudicates unfair labor practice complaints. For investors, labor actions can feed directly into costs and service levels across Amazon’s delivery network.
The timing matters because traders are also bracing for the Federal Reserve’s December meeting minutes later on Tuesday, a potential catalyst for rate expectations into year-end. Rate moves can hit growth stocks by changing the discount rate investors apply to future earnings.
A unanimous three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said federal law barred courts from intervening because Amazon’s lawsuit grew out of a labor dispute. The decision broke with a different court that recently ruled for Elon Musk’s SpaceX on similar claims.
Amazon sued in 2024 to block an NLRB administrative case alleging it was a “joint employer” of drivers employed by another company, Battle Tested Strategies, and should have recognized and bargained with their union. “Joint employer” status can require a company to bargain over working conditions even when workers are formally hired by a contractor.
The company argues NLRB proceedings are unconstitutional because board members and administrative judges have protections that prevent them from being removed without cause. The ruling deepens a split among appeals courts, a backdrop that can speed a path to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Amazon and the NLRB did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Amazon’s muted move came a day after Wall Street’s main indexes ended lower as heavyweight technology and AI-linked stocks retreated from recent gains. “It’ll turn out to be a buying opportunity,” said Hank Smith, director and head of investment strategy at Haverford Trust, referring to the broader tech pullback. Reuters
Minutes from the Fed’s December 9-10 meeting are due at 2 p.m. EST, after policymakers cut rates by a quarter point to a 3.50%-3.75% range in a 9-3 vote. Investors will scan the minutes for how officials balance inflation still above the Fed’s 2% goal against a softening labor market, and how long they intend to hold rates steady in early 2026.
For Amazon shares, the immediate question is whether the minutes push Treasury yields and the dollar enough to trigger another round of rebalancing in index-heavy tech names. Thin holiday liquidity can magnify afternoon moves.
On the legal front, the 9th Circuit said employers can still raise constitutional objections in NLRB proceedings and then seek review in appeals court after a final agency decision. Investors will watch for any new filings in the underlying driver case that could shape the timeline.
Amazon, which runs the largest U.S. online store and the AWS cloud-computing unit, is also in focus as markets head into the New Year with rates and labor costs back on the agenda. With few Amazon-specific catalysts expected to hit the tape before the close, traders said macro headlines and legal developments are likely to set the tone for AMZN into 2026.
