Amazon Stock Soars After Q2 Earnings Beat Expectations as AI, Chip Businesses See $25 Billion Run Rate

July 31, 2026

Breaking News

Image source: Unsplash

Amazon reported its second-quarter results after the bell on Thursday, beating expectations on the top and bottom lines, as its AWS AI and chip units both surpassed annual run rates of $25 billion.

Amazon stock jumped 12% in pre-market trading on Friday as investors assessed the news.

"AWS is booming, growing 36.7% year-over-year in Q2 — our fastest growth in 18 quarters — and our AI and Chips businesses each eclipsed run rates of more than $25 billion," Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in a statement.

"In Stores, we again set record delivery speeds for Prime members in the first half of the year—over 40% more items delivered same-day or overnight, with Grocery and Everyday Essentials growing meaningfully faster than the rest of the business. And, Advertising had another strong quarter with 26% year-over-year growth. There's a lot to be excited about, and we have much more coming for customers in the second half of the year and beyond."

For the quarter, Amazon saw earnings per share (EPS) of $5.75 on revenue of $200.6 billion. Analysts were anticipating EPS of $1.82 on revenue of $197.01 billion.

The company saw EPS of $1.68 and revenue of $167.7 billion in the same period last year. Yahoo Finance reports.

EdgeUp

💻 Wild Tech Stock Swings Spur Retail Traders to Cut Margin Loans

Retail investors have cut their margin loans in South Korea, Taiwan and mainland China, underscoring how a collapse in technology stocks in recent weeks has forced them to close out positions.

Outstanding margin loans, money borrowed to trade stocks, have dropped more than 10% since late June in both China and South Korea, according to Bloomberg-compiled data.

In Taiwan, they fell for six consecutive trading days to their lowest level since May. Yahoo Finance reports.

🍎 Apple Stock Slides as Q3 Estimates Beat on Strong iPhone Sales, but China, Services Come Up Short

Apple reported its third-quarter earnings on Thursday, beating analysts' expectations on the top and bottom lines on strong iPhone sales, but shares fell after Services and Greater China sales came up short.

Apple stock fell more than 7% in pre-market trading on Friday as investors assessed the report.

For the third quarter, Apple saw earnings per share (EPS) of $2.02 on revenue of $109.4 billion, ahead of the $1.89 EPS and $108.8 billion in revenue analysts were anticipating. Yahoo Finance reports.

💾 Cathie Wood Buys $14.3 Million of Tumbling Semiconductor Stock

Cathie Wood, chief of Ark Investment Management, often buys her highest-conviction stocks during sharp pullbacks.

That's exactly what she's doing with Nvidia, adding more shares after the semiconductor giant fell more than 6% over the past five trading days.

In 2025, the flagship Ark Innovation ETF gained 35.49%, far outpacing the S&P 500's 17.88% return in the same period. But so far this year, Wood's flagship Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) is down 6.38% as of July 30, while the S&P 500 surged 8.65%, Yahoo Finance data shows. Yahoo Finance reports.

⚙️ Chipmaker Kioxia Reports AI-Driven 45-Fold Surge in Quarterly Net Profit

Ferocious AI-driven demand delivered quarterly net profit more than 45 times higher than last year's figure for Japanese chipmaker Kioxia, the company said Friday.

The global race to build artificial intelligence data centres has turbocharged business for chipmakers, sending prices soaring for memory components in particular. Yahoo Finance reports.

📡 SK Hynix, Samsung Shares Skyrocket to Clock Best Days as AI Rally Roars Back

South Korea’s chip heavyweights SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics skyrocketed in Seoul on Friday, tracking a sharp rally in U.S. technology stocks after blockbuster earnings from Amazon and Microsoft revived optimism around artificial intelligence spending.

SK Hynix closed nearly 30% higher, marking its best day on record. Samsung closed nearly 27% higher, also clocking its highest single-day gains. LG Innotek advanced 21.23% and Seoul Semiconductor rose 15%.

Japanese chip stocks also rallied sharply. Advantest climbed more than 16%, while Tokyo Electron gained 6.24%, Disco rose 12.74%, Lasertec advanced 12.74% and Renesas Electronics added 7.7%. SoftBank Group, a key artificial intelligence proxy as it owns Arm, also jumped 13.8%. CNBC reports.

🛢️ Oil Prices Choppy as Recovering Hormuz Strait Traffic Tempers War Premium

Oil prices were moderately higher on Friday as investors monitored a recovery in crude flows through the Strait of Hormuz, which earlier eased supply concerns, following the resumption of hostilities between the U.S. and Iran earlier this week.

West Texas Intermediate futures for September delivery were last seen almost 0.1% higher at $83.68, turning positive after trading lower earlier in the session. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark, rose 0.35% to $89.34 a barrel. CNBC reports.

🛡️ Anthropic Says Its Claude Models ‘Gained Unauthorized Access’ to Other Organizations’ Systems

Anthropic on Thursday said it discovered three instances where its Claude artificial intelligence models accessed the internet during an evaluation and “gained unauthorized access to the real systems of three different organizations.”

The company said it found these incidents after carrying out “a large-scale retrospective review” of its cybersecurity evaluations. Anthropic said the review was prompted by a separate but similar security incident that OpenAI disclosed last week. CNBC reports.

🛍️ Fast-Fashion Retailer Shein’s 3-Year IPO Odyssey May Have Cost It the ‘Golden Time’ to Go Public

Shein won Beijing’s approval for a Hong Kong listing after it publicly embraced the Chinese roots it spent years playing down. Now investors are questioning whether that blessing can carry a $40-billion-plus valuation for a company whose growth engine has stalled.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission approved the listing early this month, after Shein’s attempts at going public in New York and London failed. The company’s filing on Sunday gave investors a closer look at the pressure facing the online fast-fashion retailer — higher costs, slowing growth, and mounting regulatory scrutiny in its biggest markets. CNBC reports.

Top 5 Movers in Early Pre-Market

(All pricing and percent gains are based on Early Pre-Market from 4:00 AM to 7:00 AM ET). Stock Analysis reports.

1) MGRX: Mangoceuticals, Inc.
Total gain: +84.13%

2) CYCU: Cycurion, Inc.
Total gain: +68.94%

3) KUST: Kustom Entertainment, Inc.
Total gain: +50.85%

4) AXTI: AXT, Inc.
Total gain: +32.94%

5) SBEV: Splash Beverage Group, Inc.
Total gain: +31.27%

Yesterday’s Biggest Movers

The closing price of the top three market percent gainers trading near or above $3 on July 30.

(All pricing and percent gains are based on regular market trading hours from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM ET) Stock Analysis reports.

1) NUWE: Nuwellis, Inc.
Total gain: +135.45%
The company announced the acceptance of a new single-center retrospective study in Frontiers in Pediatrics, a multi-disciplinary peer-reviewed journal that addresses challenges in pediatric patient care and child health, demonstrating that aquadex therapy serve as a safe and feasible alternative anticoagulant during Aquadex therapy in critically ill pediatric patients. Globe Newswire reports.

2) PN: PN Smart Energy Limited
Total gain: +120.80%
The company announced the successful completion of its acquisition of the remaining 56.0% equity interest in Nanjing Cesun Power Co., Ltd. (“Nanjing Cesun”). Globe Newswire reports.

3) DFNS: T3 Defense Inc.
Total gain: +69.22%
The stock appeared to be moving on no notable news.

Today’s Notable Earnings

(Estimate and Actual numbers represent Earnings Per Share in US Dollars)

DSNKY: Daiichi Sankyo Co
Q1 2026
Before Market Open
Estimate: N/A
Actual: 0.240

ICAGY: Intl Cons Airlines Group
Q2 2026
Before Market Open
Estimate: 0.410
Actual: 0.470

NWG: NatWest Group
Q2 2026
Before Market Open
Estimate: 0.470
Actual: 0.5390

Today’s Economic Dates

Time (ET) / Report / Period

8:30 AM - Employment Cost Index - 2Q
9:45 AM - Chicago Business Barometer - ISM-Chicago Business Survey - Chicago PMI - July
10:00 AM - U. Michigan Final Consumer Survey - July

Parting Thoughts

“The stock market is the only market where things go on sale and all the customers run out of the store.”

– Cullen Roche

Sourced in: Pragmatic Capitalism.

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