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Hi John, here's what you need to know for October 25th in 2:58 minutes.

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• Amazon reported better-than-expected third-quarter revenue but lower-than-expected profit
• The outgoing European Central Bank president kept things much the same, leaving their successor several problems to solve

Past Its Prime

What’s Going On Here?

Amazon continues to transform and roll out new strategies, but it reported a third-quarter profit late on Thursday that was worse than investors expected – initially sending its stock down 8% (tweet this).

What Does This Mean?

Amazon’s total revenue was higher than expected, helped by 24% ecommerce growth in the US and 18% internationally compared to the same time last year. But revenue at the company’s highly profitable cloud computing arm "only" grew 35% – less than predicted, and one of the reasons its profit missed estimates.

Amazon’s forecast for this quarter’s earnings were, as usual, lower than investors had hoped. Most companies tend to under-promise and over-deliver in their updates, and Amazon certainly tried the former on for size – but by under-delivering too, it might now have given investors pause.

Why Should I Care?

For markets: No more fun and games.
Amazon’s stock might’ve fallen due to its less-than-rosy outlook for the upcoming holiday season, which kicks off with Black Friday in November. In its quarterly earnings update this week, toymaker Hasbro said tariffs between the US and China had led retailers to change or cancel orders, negatively affecting its sales ahead of the year’s major shopping season. Other brands will likely leave retailers short on must-haves too – and shoppers looking for cheap deals and stocking-fillers might find the Everything Store can’t quite live up to its name.

For you personally: How to build a treehouse.
At around $1,700 a share, buying Amazon’s stock is a big commitment – and might turn an otherwise balanced investment portfolio into a risky one. If you do decide to cough up the cash, though, you’ll want to choose the right broker to buy and sell shares. Some are even letting investors buy fractions of shares, allowing you to buy into Amazon and other stocks with a much smaller cash balance than you’d normally need.

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En (La)garde!

What’s Going On Here?

In his final meeting on Thursday, the outgoing president of the European Central Bank (ECB) announced eurozone interest rates would be left unchanged – but the bout is just beginning for his successor. Allez!

What Does This Mean?

Mario Draghi has been the central bank’s head honcho since 2011. His decisions split opinion among investors and economists alike during his tenure, but they were grateful for the steps he took to parry the blows to the eurozone economy – particularly during the region’s debt crisis.

The ECB already cut eurozone interest rates last month, as well as announced plans to purchase bonds in the region for as long as is necessary to boost the economy. And on Thursday, the central bank stuck firmly to those guns.

Why Should I Care?

For markets: New faces, same problems.
Most investors aren’t expecting the new ECB president – former International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde – to do much different from her predecessor, so expect still-low interest rates to persist. But she will have to worry about the long-term side effects of low or negative rates – on banks and pension funds that struggle to make a profit on their investments, and on the eurozone economy at large. Some Swiss banks have already taken to charging interest on cash in their richest customers’ accounts.

The bigger picture: Europe’s at the end of the road.
Fresh survey data on Thursday showed French economic activity in October was slightly better than economists had predicted. But things are still looking weak in Germany, where services activity is declining and the all-important manufacturing industry is still shrinking. One challenge confronting the new ECB president is to convince the region’s largest economy to kick-start its economic growth by supplementing eurozone support with its own measures.

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