It was a tale of two earnings seasons on Thursday. Amazon, the e-commerce and cloud computing behemoth, disappointed investors with a profit miss, while Europe's biggest oil companies served up a feast of refining-fueled profits. Here's what it all means for your money.
Amazon: AWS shines, but the bill comes due
Amazon's sales grew 12% from a year ago, matching what Wall Street had expected. The star of the show was again Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company's cloud computing division, where sales jumped 39% compared with the same period last year. That strength helped offset a drag from Prime Day, Amazon's big summer sale, which the company moved from July to June this year—pulling a chunk of sales into the earlier quarter.
But the bottom line told a different story. Earnings per share came in 4% below what analysts had forecast, and with nothing much to cheer about, investors sent the shares down more than 5% in after-hours trading.
Looking ahead, Amazon expects sales growth of up to 16% over the crucial holiday quarter—roughly in line with expectations. That wasn't enough to lift the mood, especially given the company's massive spending plans.
Why AWS matters so much
Amazon has its fingers in many pies, from same-day deliveries to audiobook subscriptions. But one division really gets investors excited: AWS. That business is the company's biggest growth engine, and it's been picking up speed since early 2025. Cloud growth, however, comes with a hefty infrastructure bill. Amazon plans to spend over $200 billion this year, mostly on AI chips and data centers. Only time will tell if that mountain of spending can deliver returns to match.
An enormous cart with national impact
Amazon isn't just growing its own business—it's giving the US economy a leg up. Figures released Thursday showed the country's economy grew at an annualized 3.4% last quarter, faster than expected, partly thanks to a boost from AI spending. Private fixed investment—spending on things like equipment, software, and buildings—rose almost 10% as Amazon and its peers splurged on expansion.
That wasn't the first time Amazon made a dent in national data: analysts partly blamed July's slowdown in US retail sales growth on the giant's Prime Day schedule change. For investors, the takeaway is that Amazon's moves can ripple far beyond its own stock.
Big Oil: refining profits flow
Across the Atlantic, European energy giants Shell, TotalEnergies, and Repsol reported bumper profits for the last quarter, and the common thread was refining—the business of turning crude oil into fuel like gasoline and diesel.
Shell's adjusted profit—a measure that strips away unusual one-time costs—came in at a better-than-expected $10.8 billion, double a year ago. The UK-based firm had its refining business to thank: the profit it made by turning a barrel of crude into fuel jumped to a record $42, up from $24 just three months before.
TotalEnergies kept the good vibes flowing, with adjusted profit more than doubling to a better-than-expected $9.1 billion. Refining was the star at the French firm, too: profit from that business jumped over 400%.
And Spain-based Repsol, not to be outdone, reported an unexpectedly strong 260% profit rise to $3 billion. Its industrial division—which handles refining, trading, and transporting oil and gas—led the way, with profit bubbling up by over 500%.
Lessons from past booms
Oil companies have a habit of getting carried away when times are good. During past booms, producers poured money into expensive projects that looked worthwhile when the cost per barrel was high, only to regret it when prices cooled and debts piled up.
This time, though, the industry seems to have learned a thing or two. Instead of splurging on expansion, energy giants are sending more money shareholders' way. Shell's ramping up its quarterly stock buybacks from $3 billion to $5 billion. Total's buying back $2.5 billion of stock this quarter and another $2.5 billion next. And Repsol nearly doubled its buyback plans for the rest of the year to over $1 billion.
What it means for investors
For Amazon shareholders, the key question is whether the heavy spending on AI and data centers will eventually pay off. The company's cloud business is growing fast, but the profit miss shows that growth isn't free. Investors will be watching to see if AWS's accelerating growth can eventually translate into fatter bottom lines.
For energy investors, the refining boom is a reminder that oil companies can profit even when crude prices are volatile. But the industry's newfound discipline—returning cash rather than chasing growth—is a shift that could support share prices over the long term. As always, past performance is no guarantee of future results, and energy markets can turn quickly.
For broader markets, these earnings offer a mixed picture: tech growth is strong but costly, while energy profits are booming but cyclical. Diversification across sectors remains a sensible approach for everyday investors.
