WSJ What’s News in Markets: AWS Outage, Warner Plans, Earnings Movers

Host: Francesca Fontana
Date: October 25, 2025

Episode Overview

This Saturday wrap-up explores the biggest market movers of the week, focusing on a major Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage, strategic moves and M&A chatter for Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount, and critical earnings reports from tech heavyweights like Netflix and Tesla. Host Francesca Fontana offers a concise, informative review of how these events rippled through the markets, highlighting notable stock movements and industry dynamics.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. General Market Performance

• Sunny Week for Stocks: Despite midweek volatility, the US stock market had a strong showing.
• Indexes Recap:
  • Dow: +2.2% for the week
  • S&P 500: +1.9%
  • Nasdaq: +2.3%

2. Global Events: US–China Trade Tensions

• Wednesday Tech Stock Dip:
  • Triggered by renewed concerns over US–China trade relations ahead of President Trump’s planned meeting with President Xi Jinping.
• Investors Remain Optimistic: Temporary selloff but overall market optimism heading into the diplomatic engagement.

3. Corporate Earnings Season

• Nearly 20% of S&P 500 companies announced results this week, including Tesla and Netflix.
• Quote (Francesca Fontana, 01:19):

  “It really feels like this year is flying by. I don’t know where the time is going.”

4. The AWS Outage: ‘Amazon Breaks the Internet’

• Event Recap (02:04):

  • A major AWS outage on Monday cascaded across the web, disrupting everything from flights to finance to essential business and consumer platforms (Slack, Zoom, Venmo, Instacart, news sites including WSJ.com).

• Market and Infrastructure Impact:

  • Exposed fragility of global internet infrastructure, as AWS supports about a third of the public cloud market.

• Quote (Francesca Fontana, 02:28):

  “It put into stark relief just how fragile our global Internet connectivity is. One glitch sending huge ripple effects across corporations and our everyday lives.”

• Resolution:
  AWS restored most affected services by late Monday afternoon.

• Amazon Stock Reaction:

  • Shares ended more than 1% higher Monday, up over 5% for the week—remained resilient unlike last summer’s CrowdStrike outage.

5. Warner Bros. Discovery: Up for Sale?

• Strategic Shift:
  • Warner considering partial or full sale of media holdings—potential for a landmark entertainment industry shakeup.
• Deal-Making Context:
  • Paramount–Skydance merger finalized recently; Paramount also bought the Free Press and installed Bari Weiss as CBS News EIC.
• Investor Reactions:
  • Warner Bros. shares: +11% Tuesday, +16% for the week
  • Paramount shares: –2.8% on announcement, ended week flat (–1%)
• Quote (Francesca Fontana, 03:10):

  "Deal making has been in the air as of late."

6. Earnings Movers: Netflix & Tesla

Netflix (Reported Tuesday)

• Positive trends:
  • Higher profit and sales from membership growth, price hikes, and advertising.
• Negative surprise:
  • Earnings miss due to a one-off Brazilian tax expense.
• Market Impact:
  • Shares fell 10% on Tuesday, down 8.7% for the week.

Tesla (Reported Wednesday night)

• Headline:
  • Q3 EV demand surge—but profits did not follow, with net income dropping 37%.
• Tax Credit Timing:
  • Rush among American buyers to grab $7,500 credit before expiry didn’t fully offset fading margins.
• Stock Movement:
  • After-hours dip but closed up 2.3% Thursday
  • Ended the week down 1.3%

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the scale of AWS’s reach (02:16):

  “Especially when, for instance, Amazon controls about a third of the public cloud computing market, AKA the Internet’s core infrastructure.”
  — Francesca Fontana

• On deal fever in entertainment (03:23):

  “Paramount also just bet $150 million on a deal to acquire the news and opinion site the Free Press and made co founder Bari Weiss editor in chief of CBS News.”
  — Francesca Fontana

Timestamps – Key Segments

• [00:18] — Weekly overview, major economic and market events
• [01:05] — US–China trade tensions, overall S&P 500 earnings context
• [02:04] — AWS Outage breakdown & market reaction
• [03:00] — Warner Bros. Discovery’s sale rumors, Paramount deal news
• [04:00] — Earnings movers: Netflix and Tesla specifics

Further Reading

• More on weekly movers: Francesca Fontana’s column “The Score” in the WSJ’s Exchange section.

Tone: Direct, incisive, and brisk—reflecting the Wall Street Journal’s business-oriented, factual, and efficient delivery.