Apple, Amazon shares dip after earnings reports

Apple, Amazon shares dip after earnings reports

U.S. stock market leaders Apple Inc and Amazon.com reported results after the S&P 500 closed out its best month since January 1987, driven by expectations the economy will soon start recovering from crushing restrictions enacted to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

This report produced by Chris Dignam.

On the last day of the S&P 500's best month in 33 years - after one of its worst in March - highly anticipated results from Amazon and Apple offered some insight into the coronavirus pandemic's impact on two of the largest companies in the world.

First to report was Amazon, which warned on Thursday that it could post a loss in the second quarter as it tacked on about $4 billion in costs related to the global health crisis.

CEO Jeff Bezos said the entirety of that $4 billion or more would be spent to keep up with a surge in online orders and to keep employees safe, as critics have accused Amazon of taking inadequate measures to protect warehouse workers from falling ill.

Shares of Amazon sank more than 5% in after-hours trade.

Next, Apple reported sales and profit that beat Wall Street expectations.

CEO Tim Cook said sales in China - a major market for Apple - were "headed in the right direction" as that country reopens.

But Cook said it was impossible to forecast overall results for the current quarter because of uncertainty created by the virus, so it broke with its usual practice of releasing guidance - the latest company to do so amid the pandemic.

Shares of Apple were down more than 1% after an initial pop in extended trading.