What's going on?

Amazon�s quarterly results fell short of analysts� expectations, while fellow Big Tech heavy-hitter Apple announced better-than-expected results late on Thursday.

What does this mean?

Amazon�s ecommerce business made 13% more sales overall last quarter than the same time last year, but investors were focused elsewhere. See Amazon�s cloud segment grew sales by a worse-than-expected 27% over the quarter, and that slowing growth�s a bad omen for the profit-making division that�s been funding Amazon�s other businesses. So after Amazon�s overall revenue and outlook for this quarter ended up way short of expectations, investors initially sent shares plummeting 19%.

Fellow tech giant Apple reported a worse-than-expected uptick in iPhone sales, but still managed to keep stealing Android users, which � along with strong Mac and wearable sales � helped its �active user base� hit a new all-time high. In theory, that meant the goliath could flog its profitable services to more turtleneck-idolizing superfans, but the segment still posted a measly 5% sales growth. Even better-than-expected revenue and profit couldn�t appease investors: they initially sent Apple�s shares down too.

Why should I care?

Zooming in: Money sings.
Apple upped prices of its music and television services this month for the first time ever, but it could be shooting itself in the foot. See, Apple�s becoming more reliant on those services now that folk are putting off expensive hardware upgrades, but this jolt makes them pricier than Spotify and Amazon�s equivalents. And with Apple TV+�s viewership hanging behind other major streaming platforms, turning off cash-strapped entertainment seekers could be a risky move.

Zooming out: This is bigger than tech.
Big Tech can�t blame this earnings season on the US economy: data out on Thursday showed the country�s economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.6% last quarter, after two quarters of shrinkage. But it�s not out of the woods yet: the main contributor to that growth was the volatile exports category, while consumer spending ��the economy�s main growth driver ��looks set to stay squashed under inflation�s heavy pressure.