Shares in Amazon (AMZN) dipped 1% in Wednesday’s session, after CEO Andy Jassy warned that the rollout of artificial intelligence (AI) across the tech company would likely result in jobs cuts in the coming years.
Jassy said in a memo to employees on Tuesday that this “should change the way our work is done. We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs.
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“It’s hard to know exactly where this nets out over time, but in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company.”
Meanwhile, Amazon’s autonomous driving subsidiary, Zoox, announced on Wednesday that it has opened the first-ever production facility for purpose built robotaxis in the US. The site in California spans 220,000 square feet — the equivalent of three and a half American football fields.
In other autonomous vehicle news, Alphabet-owned (GOOG, GOOGL) Waymo is looking to bring its robotaxi service to New York.
In a post on social media platform X on Wednesday, Waymo said: “We’ve applied for a @NYC_DOT permit to drive autonomously with a specialist behind the wheel while we’re in the city — a key step to one day serving New Yorkers.”
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The company said it was advocating for changes to state law to allow it to bring fully autonomous ride-hailing service the city in the future.
Waymo currently operates in parts of San Francisco, Pheonix, Los Angeles and Austin, and has just announced that it is expanding its service in greater Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Shares in Alphabet fell nearly 2% in Wednesday’s session and were hovering just above the flatline in pre-market trading on Thursday morning.
Shares in stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) surged nearly 34% on Wednesday and were up a further 6% in pre-market trading on Thursday morning.
The jump in shares came after the US Senate passed a bill on Tuesday that would establish a federal framework for stablecoins, which are dollar-backed cryptocurrencies.
Shares in crypto exchange platform Coinbase (COIN) — which co-founded the USDC (USDC-USD) stablecoin — also rallied on the news, closing Wednesday’s session up more than 16%.
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In addition, Coinbase announced on Wednesday the launch of its stablecoin payment stack for commerce platform. It said that the system offers instant, 24/7 USDC stablecoin payments to merchants “globally, securely, and without blockchain complexity”.
Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Coinbase (COIN) is riding the wave of stablecoin momentum with the launch of a new payment stack aimed at making it easier for shoppers to buy and pay using US dollar-backed crypto.
“It’s a bold move that puts pressure on traditional payment giants like Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA), whose dominance in the card space is starting to look a little less certain. For crypto enthusiasts, this marks one of the first real-world applications of blockchain tech that could genuinely scale with consumer use.”
On the London market, rising oil prices continued to drive up the shares of Shell (SHEL.L) and BP (BP.L), as the conflict between Iran and Israel entered its seventh day.
According to a Reuters report, Shell CEO Wael Sawan said at a conference in Tokyo on Thursday that the “escalation in tensions over the last few days, in essence, has added to what has already been significant uncertainty in the region.”
“We’re being very careful with, for example, our shipping in the region, just to make sure that we do not take any unnecessary risks,” he said.
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Concerns about disruption to supply as a result of the conflict have pushed oil prices higher, with brent crude futures (BZ=F) up 0.4% at $76.97 (£57.33) a barrel on Thursday morning, their highest point since February.
Hargreaves Lansdown’s Britzman said: “Oil prices are in a holding pattern as markets wait for clarity on possible US involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict. While the White House stayed vague after president Trump met with advisers, any direct action could escalate tensions and threaten vital energy routes like the Strait of Hormuz.”
Shell shares were up nearly 1% on Thursday morning, while BP rose 1.6%.
Shares in Premier Inn-owner Whitbread dipped 2.4% on Thursday morning, following the release of its first quarter results.
The hospitality business warned that total sales were down 1% like-for-like in the first quarter. The weakness came from the company’s UK accommodation and food and beverage segments, though it saw stronger sales growth in its Germany business.
Even so, Whitbread said its five-year plan was on track to deliver incremental profit of at least £300m ($403m) by its 2030 fiscal year, which would generate more than £2bn in shareholder returns.
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Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: “Normally-reliable Whitbread provided an unpleasant surprise for investors with their poorer update this morning.
“Always a useful bellwether of the UK consumer, Whitbread suggests that the economy is still in a tough patch, though the better Germany performance was at least some comfort for investors.
“Hopefully the longer-term turnaround will bear fruit in due course; once a star performer, Whitbread’s shares have lost direction over the last decade, although the dividend helps to boost their attractiveness.”
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