U.S. equity futures edged lower on Friday as weakness in technology stocks persisted. Online retail giant Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) unveiled a sharp increase in capital spending, while carmaker Stellantis (NYSE:STLA) flagged a major strategic rethink away from electric vehicles. Bitcoin (COIN:BTCUSD) continued to slide, and oil markets remained focused on the outcome of talks between the United States and Iran.
Amazon plans sharp rise in capital expenditure
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) was among the last major tech groups to report quarterly results after Thursday’s Wall Street close and followed peers in outlining a significant ramp-up in spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Chief executive Andy Jassy said Amazon intends to invest $200 billion in expanding its AI capabilities in 2026, implying a more than 50% jump in capital expenditure this year. The scale of the spending increase unsettled investors, pushing the stock sharply lower in after-hours trading.
The announcement reinforced expectations that Big Tech is far from easing back on AI investment. The four largest hyperscalers—Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Meta—are now forecast to spend more than $630 billion collectively this year.
On the numbers, Amazon posted fourth-quarter 2025 earnings of $1.95 per share on revenue of $213.39 billion, up 13.6% year on year, narrowly missing profit forecasts. Amazon Web Services delivered revenue of $35.6 billion in the December quarter, with sales growth of 24%, its strongest pace in 13 quarters.
While AWS represents only around 15–20% of group revenue, it generates more than 60% of Amazon’s operating profit.
“Amazon delivered a slightly mixed picture with strong overall revenue growth and a standout boost from the cloud unit’s much anticipated reacceleration picking up greater speed,” Emarketer principal analyst Sky Canaves said.
U.S. futures slip as Wall Street eyes weekly losses
U.S. stock futures were lower early Friday, extending recent declines as Amazon’s selloff weighed on the broader technology sector. At 03:35 ET, S&P 500 futures were down 0.2%, Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 0.4%, and Dow futures eased 0.1%.
Wall Street closed sharply lower on Thursday, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping 1.6%, the S&P 500 falling 1.2% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average shedding more than 500 points. The Nasdaq is on track for its worst weekly performance since early April, down around 4%, while the S&P 500 has lost roughly 2%. The Dow is broadly flat for the week.
More corporate results are due later Friday, including updates from Under Armour (NYSE:UAA), Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB), AutoNation (NYSE:AN) and Philip Morris (NYSE:PM). The U.S. jobs report, originally scheduled for Friday, has been pushed to next week following the resolution of the federal government shutdown.
Separately, data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed announced layoffs by U.S. employers surged in January to the highest level for the month in 17 years.
Stellantis books major charge in “strategic shift”
Stellantis (NYSE:STLA) said it would take a charge of around €22 billion ($26.5 billion) linked to a reassessment of its electric vehicle strategy, resulting in a preliminary loss of between €19 billion and €21 billion in the second half of 2025.
The group said the majority of the write-downs relate to changes in its product roadmap, driven by sharply reduced assumptions for EV demand.
“The charges announced today largely reflect the cost of over-estimating the pace of the energy transition that distanced us from many car buyers’ real-world needs, means and desires,” said Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa in a statement.
The Franco-Italian automaker described the move as a “strategic shift” as it responds to high costs and softer-than-expected EV sales. Stellantis, along with other major European manufacturers such as Volkswagen, has also called for subsidies to support car production in the EU amid pressure from U.S. tariffs and rising competition from China.
Bitcoin heads for steep weekly decline
Bitcoin weakened further on Friday, leaving the world’s largest cryptocurrency on course for a heavy weekly loss as confidence in risk assets continued to fade. Bitcoin fell more than 9% to around $64,730, after earlier touching a 16-month low near $60,100.
The digital asset was heading for a third consecutive weekly decline and was down more than 20% over the week. It has also lost over half its value from the record high reached in October and has erased all gains made since President Donald Trump’s election victory in late 2024.
Bitcoin has been hit by a broader retreat from speculative assets, with selling pressure intensifying after Trump nominated Kevin Warsh as his preferred candidate for Federal Reserve chair. Warsh has previously opposed the Fed’s asset-purchase programs, and expectations of a leaner central bank balance sheet have weighed on crypto markets.
Adding to the pressure, major corporate holder Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) reported a much wider fourth-quarter loss on Thursday, largely reflecting declines in the value of its Bitcoin holdings.
Oil prices up, but weekly losses loom ahead of talks
Oil prices rose on Friday but remained on track for their first weekly decline in nearly two months, as investors awaited the outcome of U.S.–Iran talks later in the day. Brent crude climbed 1.3% to $68.38 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate gained 1.4% to $64.19.
Despite the rebound, Brent was set to finish the week down 3.3% and WTI lower by around 1.8%, with U.S. and Iranian officials due to meet in Oman amid elevated tensions in the Middle East. Markets have been hoping that dialogue between Washington and Tehran could help ease tensions and reduce the risk of wider conflict, prompting traders to remove some geopolitical risk premium from oil prices this week.
However, uncertainty remains after reports of disagreement over the scope of the talks, with Iran rejecting U.S. calls to include discussions on its missile program and saying negotiations would be limited to nuclear issues. Iran is a major oil producer and sits next to the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical shipping routes for crude.