Oh-mazon! Black Friday Walkouts Dent Amazon Stock
Welcome to another exciting week in the world of finance! Quite unbelievably, we’ve meandered our way to December and are within touching distance of 2020. Today, we’re going to take a look at some market news. Then we’ll outline the key trading events for the week ahead, setting you up nicely for what’s about to come! Pull up a chair and jump in.
What’s Black Friday?
You know… Black Friday, the day after the US Thanksgiving holiday. This day has been the day of cuts, discounts and deals by big consumer brands ever since it emerged in the 1980s. Fast-forward to 2019 and the tradition is now bigger than ever. This is no longer a US phenomenon, but a truly global consumer extravaganza. Think Jerry Springer meets retail sales and you’re basically there.
And no company has done more to push the globalisation of this crazy consumer day than Amazon (AMZN), but Black Friday 2019 wasn’t such a great day for the tech giant.
Pay, Conditions and a Consumer Backlash
On a day that should have seen AMZN stock soar, it actually closed almost 1% down. Why? Two words, worker walkouts. Friday saw a host of Amazon personnel in France and Germany staging walkouts. Disgruntled workers are currently dissatisfied with:
- Pay and conditions — In Germany, the union Verdi, which called a strike, stated that it wanted improved conditions for its workers and urged the company to improve internally before thinking of consumers and discount holidays
- The impact of consumerism on the environment — In France, meanwhile, activists held banners with slogans saying things like “Stop Amazon and its world” and “Amazon: for the climate, for employment, stop expanding, stop overproduction.”
In some cities, like Paris and Lyon, anti-riot police had to be dispatched to deal with the disruption.
Source: Google Finance
What will Amazon Do About it?
Amazon has stated that it respects the right to protest but disagreed with “the actions of these individuals”. Amazon Founder and Chief Executive, Jeff Bezos, has previously promised to make the company carbon-neutral and meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement by 2040.
If you’re looking into trading Amazon stock, it’s definitely worth keeping an eye on these protests and anything that might happen today, Cyber Monday!
Key Financial Events
Are you looking forward to trading this week but don’t know where to start? Well, you’re in the right place. The elves of the Contentworks office have been busily curating a list of the top events that have the potential to create the most volatility this week. Here they are…
● Monday — we start the week in the US, with the ISM Manufacturing PMI (Nov) (USD). This will give us a key insight into the business conditions in the US manufacturing sector.
● Tuesday — takes us around the world to Australia for a number of RBA announcements (AUD), including the Interest Rate decision. Aussie traders, we don’t need to tell you how important that little nugget of information is!
● Wednesday — a busy day! Firstly, we’ll take a peek at the Australian GDP QoQ (Q3) (AUD); then we’ll check out the US ISM non-Manufacturing PMI (USD). Finally, we’ll take a trip up north for some Bank of Canada announcements (CAD), including the rate statement and the interest rate decision.
● Thursday — GDP day in Europe. We’ll be playing close attention to the EU’s Gross Domestic Product QoQ and YoY (Q3) (EUR) release. Will you?
● Friday — we’ll close the week ‘across the pond’ for the US Non-Farm Payroll (USD) and Canada’s (un)employment releases (CAD).
That’s your lot! Did you enjoy this weekly overview? Perhaps you’d like our other content, Top 10 Marketing Predictions for 2020, for example. If you think your traders would dig our content, too, then you should get in touch to discuss your content needs and build a plan that suits your business.
Speak soon!
The Contentworks team
