How Amazon Uses AI to Boost Revenue

How Amazon Uses AI to Boost Revenue

After last week’s reassuringly positive earnings call, InvestorPlace unpacked some of the ways that Amazon [AMZN] has tapped artificial intelligence (AI) across its business lines, driving both operational efficiencies and revenue growth. For instance, in fulfillment, its latest robotic centers cut processing time by 25%, supporting faster delivery and lowering costs. In advertising, generative AI tools enhance engagement by creating custom videos from product images, driving steady 20% revenue growth. Meanwhile, Amazon Web Services’ AI business now contributes billions of dollars in revenue.

Dollar Drops, Bitcoin Braced for Swings

The dollar declined Monday and treasuries saw gains as global markets tempered expectations for a Republican win in today’s US election. The dollar fell 0.6% against major currencies, marking its steepest one-day drop since September, while the euro rose 0.6% to $1.0903. Meanwhile, bitcoin volatility indicators suggest sharp market swings may follow Election Day, Bloomberg reported, with implied moves of around 8% in either direction — compared to the usual 2% — according to Caroline Mauron, Co-Founder of Orbit Markets.

Tech Earnings to Watch 

The entire world may be hanging on the result of the US election, but earnings season rolls on regardless. After Palantir [PLTR] on Monday, tech watchers will be looking out for reports from, among others, Qualcomm [QCOM], Arm [ARM] Cloudflare [NET], Unity [U] and Block [SQ]. In the health sector, there will be Gilead Sciences [GILD], Moderna [MRNA] and Novo Nordisk [NVO]. Electric vehicle (EV) makers Lucid Group [LCID] and Rivian [RIVN] both report on Thursday. 

How Is Gilead Stock Performing Ahead of Wednesday’s Earnings?

Following discussions with the FDA, Gilead Science announced on October 18 that it was pulling its bladder cancer treatment Trodelvy from the US. Despite the news, the GILD share price recorded a 52-week high on October 25. While there are question marks about the company’s oncology push, its liver disease treatments could be a key growth driver for GILD stock. OPTO unpacks the biotech firm’s key markets and growth prospects ahead of its earnings call this week. 

Loans for “Neocloud” Firms Raise Concerns

Wall Street’s top financial institutions have extended over $11bn in loans to specialized tech firms holding prized Nvidia [NVDA] AI chips, the Financial Times has detailed. Blackstone [BX], Pimco, Carlyle [CG] and BlackRock [BLK] are leading a new debt market for loans to “neocloud” companies, such as CoreWeave, Crusoe and Lambda Labs, which offer cloud computing services for AI development and use Nvidia’s high-performance GPUs as collateral. This underscores Silicon Valley’s booming GPU economy but sparks concerns about Nvidia’s dominance in the AI sector.

ADNOC to Deploy Microsoft AI

Speaking at the opening of the Adipec conference on Monday, CEO Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber said that Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) has partnered with AIQ to implement agentic AI, created in collaboration with Microsoft [MSFT] and G42, to enhance efficiency in the energy sector. Al Jaber said the AI system would shorten the seismic survey process from months to days, make the industry more sustainable by reducing emissions and increase the accuracy of production forecasts by as much as 90%.

Is a China/EU Trade War in the Offing?

China is encouraging France to mediate with the European Commission to find a balanced solution for the EV industry amid recent tensions, Reuters reported. Following the EU’s imposition of tariffs on imports, China retaliated with its own investigations into European pork and dairy and set temporary anti-dumping measures on EU brandy. With the trade war looking set to grow, OPTO recently unpacked how two Chinese EV brands were responding.