Thousands of Amazon (AMZN) employees will be looking for new jobs... If you haven't heard, yesterday morning the online retail giant announced it would cut 16,000 roles across the company.

Sacrificing 30,000 Jobs to Fuel the AI Engine By Ethan Goldman, junior analyst, Chaikin Analytics Thousands of Amazon (AMZN) employees will be looking for new jobs... If you haven't heard, yesterday morning the online retail giant announced it would cut 16,000 roles across the company. Now, this is a continuation of the cuts that Amazon started in October. That first wave slashed 14,000 roles. In that announcement, Amazon said that it was focusing on ensuring that the company was investing in its "biggest bets." And as yesterday's announcement of the new round of layoffs stated...   We've been working to strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy. Amazon is also scaling back on some of its brick-and-mortar stores... In a separate announcement this week, the company said it would be closing all of its Go convenience stores and Fresh supermarkets. It said that some locations would be converted to Whole Foods grocery stores. The company said that those closures would allow it to "prioritize investment in growth areas." There's more to this than meets the eye, folks... Amazon's biggest bet isn't on its online retail business. That has already proven to be lucrative. You see, Amazon continues to depart from its roots as an online retailer. It's continuing to redefine itself in the tech world... Recommended Links: Announcing Jeff Brown's Powerful New Model: '24-Hour AI Fortunes' For the first time ever, tech-investing legend Jeff Brown just stepped forward with a special online strategy session called "24-Hour AI Fortunes," where he discussed a powerful AI phenomenon that could transform your life in just 24 hours. In one of these episodes, you could have turned $10,000 into $150,000 in a single day. Click here to learn more. Stansberry's Biggest BUY CALL of 2026 Could Double Your Entire Portfolio Five of Stansberry Research's most senior experts just stepped forward to unveil their biggest buy call of 2026. It's a single, crucial money move they're urging you to make immediately for the chance to double your entire portfolio without taking any big risks. Get the full details right here. Amazon Places Its 'Biggest Bet' on AI and Data Centers Early last year, the company said it expected $100 billion in capital expenditures for 2025. And as you probably guessed, AI infrastructure is driving all that spending. We'll have to wait until Amazon releases its full-year earnings report next week to find out how the exact figure will come in for the year. But $100 billion mostly on AI is an eye-popping amount – even for a behemoth like Amazon. It's easy to see why Amazon pushes deeper into this space. The company's Amazon Web Services ("AWS") cloud platform is a huge moneymaker. In Amazon's most recent quarterly results, AWS brought in the lowest total revenue of the company's three segments. But it was the most profitable segment by far.  Amazon's operating income from its North America and International segments totaled roughly $6 billion in the third quarter of 2025. Meanwhile, the AWS segment boasted more than $11 billion in operating income. Keep in mind that AWS is the biggest cloud-service provider in the world by market share... As of the third quarter, it beats the runner-up – Microsoft's (MSFT) Azure service – by nine percentage points. And Amazon knows just how important it is to keep that lead. Put simply, Amazon needs to keep its momentum up in cloud services and AI in order to stay ahead of Microsoft. This helps explain why Amazon is willing to sacrifice 30,000 workers – and some of its brick-and-mortar stores. Retail isn't Amazon's "biggest bet" anymore. The company is increasingly moving on to higher-growth areas like AI. Now, you might expect that this momentum would be playing out in Amazon's stock. But that hasn't quite happened. In fact, the Power Gauge recently flashed a few warnings for the stock... The Power Gauge Flashes Caution for Amazon The Power Gauge gives Amazon a "neutral" rating right now. The stock is only up about 2% over the past year. That compares with a roughly 15% gain for the S&P 500 Index during the same time frame. Put simply, that's poor relative strength versus the broad market. Take a look at the chart below... In the first panel below the chart, you can see the big periods of weak relative strength. You'll also note that the Power Gauge flashed two separate warnings related to weak relative strength on January 2. Those came after another signal in early December. Amazon is the king of online retail. Its AWS branch rakes in cash. And the company has been betting big on AI. But right now, the Power Gauge tells us to be careful with Amazon's stock. Good investing, Ethan Goldman Market View Major Indexes and Notable Sectors     # Hld:     Bullish     Neutral     Bearish Dow 30 +0.01% 7 18 5 S&P 500 -0.01% 112 258 130 Nasdaq +0.33% 27 53 26 Small Caps -0.54% 591 981 317 Bonds -0.23% — According to the Chaikin Power Bar, Small Cap stocks are more Bullish than Large Cap stocks. Major indexes are mixed. *  *  *  * Sector Tracker Sector movement over the last 5 days Information Technology +3.77% Energy +2.67% Communication +1.85% Materials +1.44% Utilities +0.72% Consumer Discretionary +0.3% Consumer Staples -0.15% Financial -0.88% Industrials -1.33% Real Estate -1.68% Health Care -2.5% *  *  *  * Industry Focus Dow Jones REIT Services 5 39 56 Over the past 6 months, the Dow Jones REIT subsector (RWR) has underperformed the S&P 500 by -7.06%. Its Power Bar ratio, which measures future potential, is Very Weak, with more Bearish than Bullish stocks. It is currently ranked #21 of 21 subsectors and has moved down 1 slot over the past week. Indicative Stocks ADC Agree Realty Corpora AIV Apartment Investment AKR Acadia Realty Trust *  *  *  * Top Movers Gainers STX +19.14% INTC +11.04% WDC +10.7% TXN +9.94% SNDK +9.6% Losers CVNA -14.17% APH -12.2% AXON -9.89% SWKS -7.94% TXT -7.9% *  *  *  * Earnings Report Earnings Surprises GEV GE Vernova Inc. Q4 $12.91 Beat by $9.77 NVR NVR, Inc. Q4 $121.54 Beat by $15.64 TSLA Tesla, Inc. Q4 $0.50 Beat by $0.05 T AT&T Inc. Q4 $0.52 Beat by $0.05 LVS Las Vegas Sands Corp. Q4 $0.85 Beat by $0.08 *  *  *  * You have received this e-mail as part of your subscription to PowerFeed. If you no longer want to receive e-mails from PowerFeed, click here. You're receiving this e-mail at ignoble.experiment@arconati.us. For questions about your account or to speak with customer service, call +1 (877) 697-6783 (U.S.), 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Eastern time or e-mail info@chaikinanalytics.com. Please note: The law prohibits us from giving personalized financial advice. © 2026 Chaikin Analytics, LLC. All rights reserved. Any reproduction, copying, or redistribution, in whole or in part, is prohibited without written permission from Chaikin Analytics, LLC. 201 King Of Prussia Rd., Suite 650, Radnor, PA 19087. www.chaikinanalytics.com. Any brokers mentioned constitute a partial list of available brokers and is for your information only. Chaikin Analytics, LLC, does not recommend or endorse any brokers, dealers, or investment advisors. Chaikin Analytics forbids its writers from having a financial interest in any security they recommend to our subscribers. All employees of Chaikin Analytics, LLC (and affiliated companies) must wait 24 hours after an investment recommendation is published online – or 72 hours after a direct mail publication is sent – before acting on that recommendation. This work is based on SEC filings, current events, interviews, corporate press releases, and what we've learned as financial journalists. It may contain errors, and you shouldn't make any investment decision based solely on what you read here. It's your money and your responsibility.