Morning Business Report: Amazon tops Fortune 500 as home prices fall and Social Security concerns grow

Amazon (AMZN) scheduled Prime Day for June 23–26, earlier than last year’s July event and expanded to four days. The shift comes as inflation rose to 3.8% in April. Amazon said Q1 average prices fell year over year and unit volume grew 15%. AWS revenue rose 28% to $37.6B, generating $14.2B operating income; Amazon plans about $200B capex and free cash flow fell to ~$1.2B.

US stocks rose Thursday as the Dow hit a record, gaining about 1.8% (875 points) to a new high, while the S&P 500 added about 0.5% and the Nasdaq was little changed after earlier losses. Broadcom (AVGO) fell more than 12% after its AI chip outlook disappointed. Investors also weighed US jobless claims (225,000) ahead of Friday’s May jobs report.

The Nasdaq fell 4% (worst since April 2025), with the S&P 500 down 2.6% and the Dow off 1.35%, as fears of Fed rate hikes pressured tech and chip stocks. Broadcom’s late-Wednesday guidance after quarterly results and Friday’s strong jobs report (172,000 net jobs added; prior months revised up) drove yields higher (10-year to 4.532%).

UnitedHealth shares rose more than 5% to about $396 on Thursday after Bank of America upgraded the stock to “buy” and raised its price target to $450 from $420, citing improving medical cost trends that have pressured margins. The analysts said new data makes it less likely that strong Q1 results were temporary. The move helped lift the Dow.

This week in tech, OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Anthropic, Nvidia and Zoom pushed new AI assistants and on-device tools, including OpenAI’s Dreaming V3 and Google DeepMind’s Gemma 4 12B. Security researchers reported multiple flaws, including a GitHub VS Code zero-day and an HTTP/2 “Bomb” affecting major servers. SpaceX planned a $75B IPO at $135/share.

A New Republic report citing Public Citizen says 14 donors to President Donald Trump’s planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom have received over $50 billion in federal contracts in the past six months. The report also says 21 corporate donors are public and 6 more were identified, with many tied to federal litigation. The Justice Department sought to appeal a court order halting construction, arguing plaintiffs lack standing.