When a cloud service that powers much of the internet goes down

Summary

Marketplace Morning Report – October 20, 2025

Episode Theme:
This episode centers on a major Amazon Web Services outage that rippled across the internet, impacting banks, websites, financial platforms, and daily life. The show also covers recent volatility in cryptocurrency markets, the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, China’s economic slowdown, and a high-profile corporate sale in luxury beauty.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Amazon Web Services (AWS) Outage Disrupts the Internet

[01:23 – 02:58]

• Overview:
  A significant outage in Amazon’s cloud computing infrastructure, primarily based in Northern Virginia, took down or disrupted operations for a wide range of companies and services.

• Impacted Platforms:

  • Social: Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit
  • Gaming: Roblox, Fortnite
  • Commerce: Lyft, McDonald’s, T-Mobile, Verizon, Amazon itself
  • Finance: Venmo, Robinhood, Coinbase
  • International: UK’s Lloyds bank, national tax authority

• Response:

  • Amazon reported “significant signs of recovery” after 5 a.m. Eastern.

• Key Quote:

  “The website Down Detector started reporting a spike in outages related to Amazon Web Services.”
  — Mitchell Hartman, [01:47]

---

2. Crypto Turbulence and ETF Hopes

[02:58 – 05:52]

• Market Downturn:

  • Bitcoin fell 12% from its recent high ($126,000 → just below $111,000).
  • Other cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin and Solana faced jitters.

• Personal Impact:

  • Investor Glauber Contessotto reported a $330,000 loss on Dogecoin in a week.
  • Still optimistic about Dogecoin’s future, citing potential ETF launches.

• ETF Developments:

  • ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) allow easier public investment in crypto.
  • 130+ altcoin ETFs await SEC approval but are delayed by the government shutdown.
  • Example: Bitcoin ETFs launched previously saw $50 billion in inflows in their first year.

• Risks & Warnings:

  • Duke University researcher Lee Reiners cautioned against equating ETF packaging with safety:

    “Just because it's in a familiar wrapper in this case an ETF does not mean that it is somehow safe or cannot go down significantly.”
    — Lee Reiners, [05:23]

• Key Quotes:

  “Okay, over the last week I am down 312,000, no, $330,000 on Dogecoin specifically.”
  — Glauber Contessotto, [03:31]

  “These were one of the most successful ETF launches of all time.”
  — Zach Pandal (Grayscale), [04:39]

---

3. U.S. Government Shutdown: Economic and Logistical Impacts

[05:52 – 06:29]

• Government Services Affected:

  • Affordable Care Act subsidies and Medicaid benefits at risk.
  • Air travel disruptions: 5,800 flights delayed; air traffic controllers working unpaid, risking fatigue and lower morale.

• Context:

  • 20th day of the partial federal government shutdown.

---

4. China’s Economic Slowdown Amid Global Tensions

[07:31 – 08:47]

• Economic Data:

  • 4.8% year-over-year growth in summer quarter (slowest pace this year).
  • Exports to U.S. down 27% (tariffs) but overall exports up 8.3%.
  • Housing market slump: Prices down 35% since 2021 peaks.
  • Retail sales up 3% in September, slowest since last December.
  • China's Communist Party leaders convene for a key economic plan.

• Key Insight:

  • The economy “is lopsided, driven mainly by manufacturing and overseas demand.”
    — Jennifer Pak, [07:56]

  • Pain expected as China finds “new growth drivers,” with official blame for slow growth partly assigned to “abuse of tariffs by some countries” (implied U.S.).

---

5. Corporate News: Gucci Sells Beauty Business

[08:47 – 09:26]

• Deal:

  • Kering (owner of Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, and others) sells Gucci’s perfume and beauty business to L’Oreal for $4.7 billion.

• Humorous Note:

  • “If you use Irish Spring, that is not affected at all by this deal.”
    — David Brancaccio, [09:13]

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the AWS Outage:

  “Amazon Web Services is a major provider of cloud computing services, from servers to storage to many of the biggest companies in the world.”
  — Mitchell Hartman, [01:47]

• On Crypto Losses:

  “Over the last week I am down 312,000, no, $330,000 on Dogecoin specifically.”
  — Glauber Contessotto, [03:31]

• On ETF Risks:

  “Just because it's in a familiar wrapper in this case an ETF does not mean that it is somehow safe or cannot go down significantly.”
  — Lee Reiners, [05:23]

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:23] AWS outage ripple effects – start of main segment
• [02:58] Crypto flash crash and ETF prospects
• [05:52] Shutdown impact on flights and government services
• [07:31] China’s slowing economic growth and key policy summit
• [08:47] Gucci beauty business sale to L’Oreal

---

Closing Note

This briefing paints a picture of a globally interdependent digital economy—one where unseen outages devastate daily routines, financial markets swing wildly with new products and ongoing uncertainty, and government dysfunction ripples into commerce and civic life. China’s economic crossroads and major luxury brand deals hint at both opportunity and transition on the world stage.

Transcript

[Dell PC Advertiser]

Introducing your new Dell PC with the Intel Core Ultra processor. It helps you handle a lot, even when your holiday to do list gets to be a lot like organizing your holiday shopping and searching for great holiday deals and customer questions and customers requesting custom things. Plus planning the perfect holiday dinner for vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians and Uncle Mike's carnivore diet. Luckily you can get a PC with all day battery life to help you get it all done. That's the power of a Dell PC with Intel inside, backed by Dell's price match guarantee. Get yours [e-mail] holiday terms and conditions apply. See dell.com for details.

[LHH Recruitment Advertiser]

Recruitment in Finance it can feel transactional, driven by numbers, not by nuance. Lacking the personal touch that fuels performance, LHH believes it should be more by connecting people to opportunity, not just skills to roles. Beautiful things happen in finance. A leader drives growth. A team finds clarity in complexity. The people you hire become the people you rely on making 90,000 hours in a career well invested Recruitment, development, career transition LHH a beautiful working world for the world of finance Discover Recruitment solutions [e-mail] beautiful.

[David Brancaccio]

Companies pay other companies to do their remote computing that's the cloud overnight part of that burst. I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles. There's been a major outage of the Amazon system that does computing for other companies, cutting off some banks, social media sites, video games and apps from the Lyft car service to McDonald's. Marketplace's Mitchell Hartman has the latest.

[Mitchell Hartman]

Amazon Web Services is a major provider of cloud computing services, from servers to storage to many of the biggest companies in the world. Starting in the early hours of Monday morning, the website Down Detector started reporting a spike in outages related to Amazon Web Services. The list of websites and mobile apps that have reportedly been impacted includes social media sites, Facebook, Snapchat and Reddit, cloud based gaming sites Roblox and Fortnite commercial services including Lyft, McDonald's, T Mobile, Verizon and Amazon itself. Financial services such as Venmo and some airlines. Stock trading platform Robinhood was impacted and crypto exchange Coinbase reported that many users were unable to access its service. Sites in the uk including Lloyds and the country's tax authority were also down. This morning Amazon said it was investigating problems with its data centers on the U.S. east coast centered in Northern Virginia. It reported after 5am Eastern time that it was seeing significant signs of recovery across its network. I'm Mitchell Hartman for Marketplace, the perpetual.

[David Brancaccio]

Financial rollercoaster, otherwise known as Crypto has taken another dip. Bitcoin is well off the all time high of $126,000 it reached earlier this month. It's now just below 111,000, down about 12% from the high. Along the way there was a particularly sudden spike downward. A flash crash they called it. That increased jitters for altcoins concoctions like Dogecoin or Solana, non bitcoin crypto with aspirations to go main marketplaces. Matt Levin has more.

[Matt Levin]

Glauber Contessotto has had better weeks. Okay, over the last week I am down 312,000, no, $330,000 on Dogecoin specifically. Contessotto is a professional crypto investor. He made his first million by pouring his life savings into dogecoin, a cryptocurrency based on an Internet dog meme. But dogecoin has spiked and tumbled and spiked before and Conisodo thinks there's a reason for another spike coming soon. Dogecoin ETFs that would be really bullish for Dogecoin. It's just more it'd be on the on the news headlines. We'll probably see, you know, a pump on the price ETF stands for Exchange traded Fund. You can think of them as an easy way to invest in crypto from the comfort of your Charles Schwab or Robinhood account. No interaction with the blockchain required. The SEC approved the very first crypto ETFs early last year for Bitcoin.

[Mitchell Hartman]

Bitcoin ETFs saw around $50 billion in aggregate in inflows just in the first year.

[Matt Levin]

Zach Pandal is head of research at Grayscale, a crypto asset manager.

[Mitchell Hartman]

So these were one of the most successful ETF launches of all time.

[Matt Levin]

Since the crypto friendly Trump administration took over, applications for altcoin ETFs have surged. Over 130 are right now waiting for SEC approval, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Although they may be waiting a bit longer than expected.

[Mitchell Hartman]

The government's shutdown has delayed the approval of a variety of altcoin ETFs and we hope that that process can pick right back up as soon as the government reopens.

[Matt Levin]

Assuming the government eventually does reopen, individual investors may soon have new crypto options in their brokerage accounts or 401s. Duke University crypto researcher Lee Reiners worries that altcoin ETFs may give investors a false sense of security. Just because it's in a familiar wrapper in this case an ETF does not mean that it is somehow safe or cannot go down significantly. Reiners doesn't expect altcoin ETFs to cause broader financial market chaos, but he does think some people may invest in things they don't really understand. I'm Matt Levin for Marketplace.

[David Brancaccio]

It is the 20th day of the partial federal government shutdown with Affordable Care act subsidies and Medicaid benefits still in play. Yesterday, 5,800 flights were delayed. The shutdown is part of that reason air traffic controllers still have to work, but it's without pay for now and some may be reluctant to work over and above extra shifts.

[Dell PC Advertiser]

Introducing your new Dell PC. Powered by the Intel Core Ultra processor, it helps you handle a lot even when your holiday to do list gets to be a lot because it's built with an all day battery plus powerful AI features that help you do it all with ease, from editing images to drafting emails to summarizing large documents to multitasking so you can organize your holiday shopping and make custom holiday decor and search for great holiday deals and respond to holiday requests and customer questions and customers requesting custom things. And plan the perfect holiday dinner for vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians and Uncle Mike's carnivore diet. Luckily, you can get a PC that helps you do it all faster so that you can get it all done. That's the power of a Dell PC with Intel inside, backed by Dell's price match guarantee. Get yours [e-mail] deals, terms and conditions apply. See dell.com for details.

[David Brancaccio]

About 200 of China's communist Party leaders have gathered in Beijing for a four day meeting that started today to talk about a five year economic plan. Official numbers released today show China's economy grew at 4.8% in the summer quarter compared to the same stretch a year earlier despite the US Trade war. But that is the slowest growth this year. Here's Marketplace's China correspondent Jennifer Pak in Shanghai.

[Jennifer Pak]

China's economy is lopsided, driven mainly by manufacturing and overseas demand. While Chinese exports to the US fell by 27% in September due to tariffs, overall exports grew 8.3%. But that's not enough to offset the property slump. Housing prices have dropped by 35% since the peak in 2021, according to a Chinese expert. Homeowners continue to feel poorer and are spending cautiously. Retail sales grew in September at 3%, the slowest pace since last December. There will be some pain while China's economy finds new growth drivers, says the Chinese Statistics Bureau spokesperson Fu Linghui. But he also bl slower growth on quote abuse of tariffs by some countries without naming the US In Shanghai, I'm Jennifer Paak for Marketplace.

[David Brancaccio]

And this news from the economic stratosphere. The Gucci people are selling their perfume and beauty business to L' Oreal for $4.7 billion. The France based holding company that owns Gucci is the seller. It's called Kering. And it also owns Yves Saint Laurent, Maui, Jim, Alexander, McQueen and Creed. Now if you use Irish Spring as that is not affected at all by this deal. In Los Angeles, I'm David Brancaccio. You're listening to the Marketplace morning report from APM American Public Media.

[Amy Scott]

How did we go from free range chicken and grass fed beef to lab grown meat?

[David Brancaccio]

It's just this very simple notion that basically the animals that we eat are using an awful lot of the earth. And it's one of those things that once you see it, you can't unsee it.

[Amy Scott]

I'm Amy Scott. And this week on How We Survive, we travel to San Francisco to meet someone who went from growing human heart cells to producing cell cultivated salmon. Could it be the future of meat? Listen to How We Survive on your favorite podcast app.