Amazon Drags, Causing U.S. Stock ETFs to Slip

U.S. equities and stock ETFs continued to fall Friday as a technology sell-off worsened on weak results from e-commerce giant Amazon (NasdaqGS: AMZN).

The S&P 500 Index, along with related funds including the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA: SPY), iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA: IVV) and Vanguard 500 Index (NYSEARCA: VOO), were 0.2% lower Friday.

The lackluster earnings from consumer companies, including Amazon, pressured markets, following a sharp sell-off in the technology sector in the previous session.

“There’s been such an enormous run-up in tech that these stocks are vulnerable to any disappointment,” Russ Koesterich, co-portfolio manager of the BlackRock Global Allocation Fund, told the Wall Street Journal, opining that the question now is if investors sell their positions in tech shares, what assets or sectors will they move that money into.

Amazon revealed quarterly profits fell 77% due to its rapid and costly expansion into new shopping categories and countries showed no sign of slowing, exacerbating the downbeat tone around internet and technology companies.