Chinese internet firm Alibaba (Nasdaq: BABA) has been hit hard by the trade war and a slowing Chinese economy.The worst part is that the company has really strong fundamentals and hasn’t been able to break the downward trend. We see on the daily chart that the highs from June and December connect to form an upper rail to a downward sloped trend channel.

Internet retailer Wayfair (NYSE: W) has seen its stock trend lower since the beginning of October.The stock bounced back from that low and moved back above the $100 level before falling again in December. If you connect the highs from October and December, you get what appears to be the upper rail of a downward sloped trend channel.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has invested in semiconductor firm Wiliot Inc. Wiliot is  an Israel and San Diego-based company that produces wireless technology for tracking the location of goods during manufacturing.Wiliot is planning to launch a battery-free bluetooth sticker-sized sensor tag, which is expected to be embedded in the production phase of consumer goods.  Amazon’s cloud service is rapidly emerging as one of its most successful businesses.

According to a recent Information Report, Amazon has upped its services by foraying to develop an online videogame steaming service that would stream gameplay over the internet. Currently, the videogame sector is undergoing a paradigm distribution shift from its earlier physical discs to online download.In light of this shift, the emergence of game streaming services will be a significant development, as it may release players from the pressure of buying expensive hardware as the processing power needed to play complex games shifts to data centers, simplifying user devices. According to Amazon, this service will not hit the market until early next year as the company is yet to collaborate with game publishers, whom they have recently approached to consider bringing their content to the streaming service. However, the development of a Web-based gaming hub would mark a significant step for Amazon in a market place already inhabiting players like Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOGL

At a time when traditional brick and mortar retailers are finding it extremely difficult to keep their doors open, Amazon-owned Whole Foods has been gearing up to enhance its omni-channel footprint. Now that Sears has closed stores in 123 locations and Kmart in 205 locations over the last three years, Whole Foods is gearing up to occupy these vacant spots and widen its national presence. This move would mark a major phase of expansion for Whole Foods, which currently has a little more than 470 stores spread across the country, centered mainly around coastal cities and affluent neighborhoods.470 may sound like a lot, but is a far cry from competitors like Walmart (WMT) and Kroger (KR) in the grocery space. With the financial backing of Amazon, Whole Foods has the opportunity to make its presence felt in areas that were once out of reach and to scale up the business at a relatively low cost.

Over the past year, Europe's tech sector has been overshadowed by privacy scandals, stricter regulation and the trade war between the U.S. and China. But there's one bright spot where the outlook isn't quite so bleak: cloud computing.READ MORE...

After cloud computing, Amazon might be gearing up for yet another battleground: gaming. The e-commerce giant is reportedly in talks with publishers about releasing games on a new service by 2020. is reportedly considering venturing into yet another business the gaming business, according to an article by  The Information.In October 2018, Microsoft expressed its plans to  start testing a cloud gaming Project xCloud, which followed its January 2018 acquisition of PlayFab, a start-up that provides cloud-based technologies for game developers.

Amazon is now the largest company by market value, overtaking Microsoft's hold on the title.READ MORE...

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the e-commerce giant is so pleased with its collaboration with Whole Foods since the acquisition of the company in 2017, that now it plans to add more Whole Foods stores in cities like Idaho, southern Utah and Wyoming. Amazon’s optimism for its physical presence is such that the to-be launched stores are supposed to cover an area larger than the average Whole Foods store, which are currently operational.Further, this is reflected in the company’s revenue from its physical stores swelling to more than $4 billion in the third-quarter, in addition to $29 billion generated through its online sales. Amazon’s growing bet on physical stores is also evident in its other physical store formats like the recently opened Amazon go stores and bookstores across U.S., especially in cities like Seattle, Chicago and San Francisco.

Amazon is reportedly planning to open more Whole Foods stores in the U.S. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Amazon is looking for retail spaces in parts of Idaho, southern Utah and Wyoming – although no confirmation on the exact spots were made. The expansion plan is expected to boost customer count for Amazon’s two-hour Prime Now delivery service.Citing sources,the report suggested that Amazon is planning to expand those services to almost all its 475 Whole Foods stores.

Meal-kit delivery company Blue Apron is hoping to boost profitability, through its tie-up with health company Weight Watchers International Inc. Blue Apron is collaborating with Weight Watchers (WW) to offer a list of rotating recipes for delivery to the homes of WW members.In an interview Wednesday with the Wall Street Journal, Blue Apron CEO Brad Dickerson indicated that a partnership with WW will help his company stabilize its customer base without having to spend too much on advertising/promotions.  Last week, Blue Apron declined below $1 for the first time.

In October, the All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA) filed a petition with the anti-trust body Competition Commission of India (CCI) alleging that Amazon favors merchants that it partly owns, such as Cloudtail and Appario.The group filed a similar petition against Flipkart in May, alleging preferential treatment for select sellers. The new regulations also preclude any potential discrimination - as to whether a product purchased belongs to an affiliate of the online platform or not - in designing any cash back incentive offered to customers.

Retail sales during the holiday season clocked its fastest increase in six years. From November 1 through December 24, retail sales surged +5.1% from a year ago, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse. Shoppers spent more than $850 billion in the holidays. Online sales increased more than +19% compared to last year, according to Mastercard.On Wednesday, Amazon claimed to have raked in record sales during the holidays. However, spending at department stores fell 1.3% from last year, according to Mastercard.

Amazon is adding a bunch of new cargo jets to its fleet to help it deliver more of its own packages.READ MORE...

Amazon claims to have experienced more items ordered during this year’s holiday season than ever before. The e-commerce giant mentioned that tens of millions of additional customers signed up for Amazon Prime free trials or paid memberships during the holiday season.FREE Same-Day, One-Day or Two-Day shipping, FREE two-hour delivery with Prime Now, and other shopping and entertainment benefits were among potential incentives to shoppers/subscribers. According to Amazon, consumers bought millions more of its own devices, like the Echo Dot and Fire TV Stick 4K - compared with last year.

It may not be a lump of coal, but Williams Sonoma is dropping something else into Amazon's stocking for the holidays: a lawsuit. The San Francisco-based home furnishings company is suing the online retailer alleging "infringement and dilution" of the Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) brand.READ MORE...

Amazon is reportedly planning to open its first physical store in the U.K. Citing anonymous sources, a report by The Telegraph suggests that Amazon is scouting for locations to set up a 3,000 -5,000 square feet sized Amazon Go Store in the U.K.  Amazon Go, whose first store was launched in Seattle, is a chain of physical grocery stores where people can swipe their Amazon Go smartphone app onto a sensor to enter, pick up groceries and get billed on their Amazon account - without having to pay at a register.Several technologies such as computer vision, deep learning algorithms, sensor fusions are used by Amazon to operate its Go stores. Opening an Amazon Go store in the U.K. could be a natural move, since the nation is an important market for the e-commerce giant.

A new story by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation looks at a group of people who are fighting the future: shoppers who refuse to use self-checkout lines because they’re worried they’ll lead to job loss. READ MORE...

Online retailer Wayfair (NYSE: W) has been on a bit of a roller coaster ride in the last six months.For comparison purposes, the S&P gained just over 10% during the same timeframe. From the end of September through November 19, the stock dropped 44% and has since bounced back.

According to analysis firm Loup Ventures, Apple has 45 million paid subscribers – the second largest number of users after Spotify (whose music service is already available on Echo).Apple’s popularity in music streaming coupled with Amazon’s leadership in the home device market could potentially spell a win-win for the duo’s latest deal. Earlier this month, Apple said that its new line of  iPhones, headphones, watches and laptops will be available on Amazon’s online marketplace.  Apple’s home speakers won’t.