Exploring Alternatives to Amazon: 4 ETFs That Might Be a Better Investment Choice
Amazon's Stock Performance: Amazon.com Inc’s shares are struggling due to tariffs, slow growth in core areas, and rising competition, with a growth rate of just over 2% compared to the Nasdaq 100 Index's 11%+ growth in 2025.
ETFs as Investment Solutions: For investors looking to balance exposure to Amazon while reducing risks, various ETFs like the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund and Vanguard Consumer Discretionary Index Fund offer diversified options that include Amazon alongside other major retailers.
Targeted Retail ETFs: More focused retail investments can be made through ETFs such as the VanEck Retail ETF and First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund, which also feature Amazon prominently, allowing investors to benefit from its performance while mitigating risks.
Long-Term Outlook for Amazon: Despite recent underperformance and concerns about market share loss, Amazon remains a key player in e-commerce and cloud computing; ETFs provide a way for investors to engage with Amazon's potential while avoiding the volatility associated with investing heavily in a single stock.
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- Custom CPU Development: ByteDance is developing its own central processing units (CPUs) to meet the growing demands of its AI infrastructure, aiming to enhance internal operational efficiency by reducing reliance on external suppliers.
- Intensifying Market Competition: As AI models increasingly demand higher CPU performance, ByteDance's initiative aligns it with tech giants like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, who are also developing custom CPUs to cut costs and optimize performance.
- Dual Architecture Strategy: ByteDance is exploring two chip architectures based on Arm and the open-source RISC-V instruction set to determine which design best suits its long-term data center needs, thereby mitigating future manufacturing risks.
- Price Pressure: With CPU prices from Intel and AMD rising by 10% to 35% in recent months, ByteDance is accelerating its in-house chip development to address challenges posed by supply shortages and escalating costs.
- Market Volatility: The escalation of U.S. military strikes against Iran has led to significant volatility in Asian stocks and oil prices, reflecting the market's heightened sensitivity to Middle Eastern tensions, which could destabilize investor sentiment and impact global economic recovery.
- Rising Oil Prices: U.S. military actions have driven oil prices higher, raising concerns over the safety of commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which may further increase global energy costs and affect national economies.
- Fed Officials' Insights: Federal Reserve officials have indicated that while the labor market remains strong, the energy inflation stemming from the Middle East conflict could create a
- AI Infrastructure Contracts: Lumen has secured nearly $13 billion in contracts with hyperscalers like Microsoft and Anthropic, highlighting its strategic importance and growing market demand in the AI sector.
- Network Connectivity Products: AWS and Google Cloud are building connectivity products on Lumen's fiber network, which not only enhances Lumen's market position but also lays a foundation for future revenue growth.
- Acquisition of Alkira: Lumen's $475 million acquisition of cloud-to-cloud connectivity software company Alkira is expected to significantly shorten product development cycles and reduce capital expenditures by $100 million to $200 million, further strengthening its competitive edge in the cloud services market.
- Stock Performance: Despite Lumen's stock rising over 400% in the past three years, its valuation remains low at 0.9 times annual sales, indicating market caution regarding its future growth potential.
- Oil Price Plunge: Oil prices dropped over 5% on Wednesday after Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated that Washington was giving Iran talks 'every chance to succeed,' reflecting market sensitivity to diplomatic efforts and potentially impacting energy sector profitability.
- Escalation of Military Actions: New U.S. airstrikes in Iran targeted a military site deemed a threat to U.S. forces and commercial maritime traffic, adding uncertainty to the ongoing diplomatic negotiations and prompting investors to reassess risk levels in the market.
- Strong Tech Stock Performance: Shares of cloud-based AI and data platform company Snowflake surged 36% following a strong earnings report and a $6 billion investment plan in Amazon Web Services, showcasing investment enthusiasm and market confidence in the tech sector amid rising AI demand.
- Inflation Data Focus: Investors are closely watching the upcoming April inflation reading, which is expected to influence the Fed's future rate decisions, as Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari emphasized that lowering inflation remains a top priority, indicating market sensitivity to economic policy.
- Significant Stock Recovery: Lumen Technologies' stock has surged 416% over the past three years, rebounding from $1 two years ago to its current price of $10.87, reflecting its potential in the AI market and renewed investor confidence.
- Strategic Partnerships: Lumen has secured nearly $13 billion in contracts with tech giants like Amazon AWS and Anthropic, becoming the first network operator for AWS's new Interconnect service, highlighting its critical role in AI data transmission.
- Acquisition of Alkira: Lumen's $475 million acquisition of cloud connectivity software company Alkira aims to accelerate the handling of East-West traffic between data centers and cloud environments, expected to reduce capital expenditures by $100 million to $200 million, enhancing operational efficiency.
- Successful Transformation: By selling its residential fiber business to pay down some debt, Lumen has successfully pivoted to become an enterprise AI infrastructure provider, although it still faces a hefty $17 billion debt load, its valuation remains attractive, drawing interest from value investors.
- Insider Trading Charges: The U.S. Justice Department has charged Google software engineer Michele Spagnuolo with using insider information to manipulate bets on the prediction market Polymarket tied to Google's most-searched list, earning $1.2 million, highlighting serious threats to market integrity.
- High-Risk Bets: Spagnuolo placed a bet on November 27 that indie pop musician D4vd would be the most-searched person on Google, despite the market assigning a near-zero probability to this outcome, reflecting his exploitation of internal data and raising concerns over insider trading practices.
- Policy Violation: Google stated that Spagnuolo's actions constitute a serious breach of company policy, leading to his suspension, which underscores the company's zero-tolerance stance on insider trading while cooperating with law enforcement in the investigation.
- Legal Implications: U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton emphasized the commitment to prosecuting corporate insiders who profit from confidential business information in prediction markets, indicating a strong intent to combat insider trading that could have far-reaching implications for the industry.











