Prime Day afterglow… Amazon reports Thursday after what it called its biggest Prime Day ever. Those deal-palooza dollars won’t be included in Q2 #s, but it’s a positive sign for the ecomm biz, which has seen slowing growth after the lockdown boom. Amazon’s cloud growth has cooled as companies rein in tech spend, but Amazon’s trying to juice demand with — you guessed it — AI. Its ad biz has been a bright spot, growing faster than cloud in Q1. (FYI: Meta and Google reported strong ad #s last week.) Meanwhile, the FTC could rain on Prime’s parade with a major lawsuit.
Come for the Sphere… stay for the slots? Las Vegas’ colossal casinos are feelin’ lucky. MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment are basking in a travel boom that saw visits to Sin City soar 20% last year and revenue pop in the first quarter. But casinos’ chips aren’t all in on Vegas. In gambling capital Macau, where MGM has a 35-story resort, gaming revenue 6X’d in June from a year ago as China reopened. With travel and entertainment spending on the rise, analysts expect betting behemoths will sweeten the pot when they report.