Amazon shares drop again as Trump continues to slam the company over its US Postal Service contract
US President Donald Trump on Monday renewed his criticism of the US Postal Service’s arrangement with Amazon.com, saying he would change how much the country’s largest online retailer pays in shipping fees.
“Only fools, or worse, are saying that our money losing Post Office makes money with Amazon,” he tweeted Monday morning. “THEY LOSE A FORTUNE, and this will be changed.”
Shares of Amazon.com Inc initially fell 6 per cent on Monday after the tweet, falling to US$1,362.48, wiping out nearly US$45 billion from its market value. The stock closed down 5.2 per cent.
Only fools, or worse, are saying that our money losing Post Office makes money with Amazon. THEY LOSE A FORTUNE, and this will be changed. Also, our fully tax paying retailers are closing stores all over the country...not a level playing field!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2018
Shares in the online retail giant have plunged 11 per cent since last week, when Axios reported that the president was “obsessed” with regulating the company. That wiped about US$75 billion from Amazon’s market capitalization.
It has also taken eight points off the S&P 500, where Amazon has the fourth-biggest weighting, at 2.5 per cent.
The equity benchmark has fallen 2 per cent in that time and now sits more than 9.5 per cent below its January record.
Ironically, Trump made much of the growth of the stock market at the start of his administration - something he is now actively damaging.