Amazon Spent $77 Billion in One Quarter
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30 OCTOBER 2026
By Mike Leesponsored A Rare Retirement Window |
 A market pattern that has never failed since 1950 is about to collide with Elon's biggest breakthrough. Last time, $10,000 became $350,000 in 12 months. Marc Chaikin has spent 60 years on Wall Street. He's worked with Paul Tudor Jones, George Soros and Steve Cohen. Survived nine bear markets… rang the opening bell at the Nasdaq. And he says there's one pattern he's relied on his entire career. A flawless, unbroken market prophecy that has never failed since 1950. Not once. All you see is green. Had you followed it, you'd have made money every single time… with no exception. And here's the part that matters for your retirement… Most people don't realize this isn't a prediction... But a market cycle that IS happening this year. By the end of this month, it collides with Elon Musk's newest AI breakthrough. Jeff Brown (the man who picked Nvidia before 36,000%) calls the collision a rare retirement window. At the stock market's normal pace, it takes 25 years to turn $10,000 into a six-figure nest egg. When this window opens… it's happened in months. The last time was 1998, when another revolutionary technology went mainstream. $10,000 became $185,000 in Magic Software. $280,000 in Steel Connect. $366,000 in Qualcomm, in 14 months. Decades of gains compressed into months. Marc and Jeff are revealing the pattern, the breakthrough, and the little-known Elon supplier they're both bullish on… free of charge. - Chris P.S. This convergence is not normal. Once it shuts, we'll likely never see it again in our lifetimes. |
Three Numbers to Start
39% | growth in Amazon Web Services sales in the third quarter, the fastest in nearly five years. |
$6.32 | the average price of a gallon of diesel, 71% more than a year ago, AAA says. |
$51.2T | Americans’ retirement savings at the end of June, the Investment Company Institute counts. |
ad Marc Chaikin has spent 60 years on Wall Street. See Chaikin’s Briefing |
Amazon Spent $77 Billion in One Quarter
Amazon reported after the close on Thursday. Sales at Amazon Web Services, its cloud business, rose 39% to $46 billion, the fastest growth in nearly five years and up from 37% in the second quarter. AWS earned $17.8 billion of operating income. Total sales rose 12% to $201.9 billion; Amazon said moving Prime Day into the second quarter cost about 4 percentage points of growth. Earnings of $1.89 a share missed the $1.97 analysts expected, FactSet says, and the shares fell about 7% after hours.
The spending drew the attention. Amazon bought $77.3 billion of property and equipment in the quarter, up from $35.1 billion a year earlier, and now plans about $220 billion of capital spending this year, up from the $200 billion it set in February and $128 billion last year. Over the past 12 months its free cash flow came to minus $42.4 billion, against plus $14.8 billion a year before. Chief executive Andy Jassy said AWS projects growth of more than 40% in both 2027 and 2028. “There has never been a trillion dollar revenue business, and we may have two of them in the next 5-10 years,” he said.
Marc Chaikin and Jeff Brown say an old market pattern is about to meet Elon Musk’s newest AI project. Their briefing, at the top of this letter, names the little-known supplier they both favor.
High Earners Now Save Catch-Up Money as Roth
One retirement rule changed this year. Under section 603 of the SECURE 2.0 law, a worker who earned more than $150,000 in FICA wages from an employer last year must make 401(k) catch-up contributions to a Roth account, with money that has already been taxed. The worker loses the deduction now, and qualified withdrawals in retirement come out tax-free. The IRS published final rules in September 2025, and plans have had to follow the law in good faith since January.
The limits for 2026: $24,500 into a 401(k), plus $8,000 from age 50, or $11,250 for savers aged 60 to 63. IRAs take $7,500, plus $1,100 from age 50. Milliman projects a 401(k) limit of $25,500 for 2027. The IRS published this year’s figures on 13 November 2025.
The pool is large. Americans held $51.2 trillion in retirement accounts on 30 June, up 7.9% in three months, the Investment Company Institute reported in September. IRAs held $19.9 trillion and 401(k) plans $10.8 trillion, and retirement money made up 33% of households’ financial assets. Required minimum distributions start at 73 and move to 75 in 2033.
Bob Carlson of Retirement Watch says most retirees are not ready for what these rules do to their tax bills. His briefing is below.
sponsored The Retirement Rule Change |
URGENT RETIREMENT BRIEFING A major regulatory shift has quietly taken effect across American retirement accounts in 2026. Under SECURE 2.0 (Section 603), the IRS has officially activated mandatory Roth rules for catch-up contributions. At the same time, lawmakers in Washington have introduced legislation targeting high-balance IRAs and 401(k)s with mandatory withdrawals and contribution limits. With over $47.6 trillion currently sitting in U.S. retirement assets, Washington is aggressively shifting rules to collect tax revenue immediately rather than waiting for future payouts. Renowned retirement expert Bob Carlson - who has tracked Capitol Hill tax policy for over 35 years - warns that most retirees are completely unprepared for how these changes will impact tax liabilities. For anyone holding assets in a 401(k), Traditional IRA, or Roth IRA, reviewing your strategy today is critical. |
Exxon Earned $15.4 Billion as Diesel Hit $6.32
Exxon Mobil reported $15.4 billion of third-quarter profit this morning, or $3.72 a share. Excluding one-off items it earned $4.23 a share, against the $4.12 analysts expected, and revenue rose 33% to $113.2 billion. Its Gulf Coast refineries ran at 100% of capacity. Exxon paid out $9.4 billion in dividends and buybacks in the quarter, raised its quarterly dividend to $1.07 and plans $20 billion of buybacks in 2027. “These are lasting improvements, not simply the result of favorable prices and margins,” chief executive Darren Woods said. Chevron earned $9.9 billion, or $5.06 a share, on revenue up 36%.
At the pump, AAA puts diesel at about $6.32 a gallon, 71% more than a year ago. Regular gasoline averaged $4.22 on Thursday, down 5 cents in a week, with crude oil above $100 a barrel.
At the pump, AAA puts diesel at about $6.32 a gallon, 71% more than a year ago. Regular gasoline averaged $4.22 on Thursday, down 5 cents in a week, with crude oil above $100 a barrel.
Europe’s Gas Passed €100 for the First Time Since 2022
The Dutch TTF contract, Europe’s benchmark gas price, reached €100.37 per megawatt-hour on Wednesday, its first time above €100 since December 2022. It traded around €32 in late February, before the war with Iran, and peaked near €340 in August 2022. EU storage stood at 75% on 21 October, against the usual target of 90% by 1 November. “Once again, due to geopolitical turbulence, Europe faces another energy crisis,” Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen said.
American gas fills part of the gap. The United States supplies about 30% of the EU’s gas, Euronews reports. American LNG exports averaged 17.4 billion cubic feet a day in the first half, up 23% from a year earlier, the Energy Information Administration says, as new plants added capacity at the fastest pace since large-scale exports began in 2016. Golden Pass LNG in Texas began shipping in April. In March, disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz cut off about 20% of the world’s LNG supply.
Dylan’s note below says one company collects a fee on the fuel that crosses its pipelines, whether a barrel costs $40 or $140. He names it on the other side of the link.
sponsored The Pipeline Toll |
Warning: don't fill your tank again until you read this… Every gallon you pump at $6 pays a toll to 1 company. In 2020, with oil below zero, that toll still came to $7.36 billion. You've paid it all year… the only question is whether any of it flows back to YOU. It’s more than possible… You just need to know who collects it. The funny part is that this company collecting that toll drills nothing… It owns the 140,000 miles of buried steel the gas has to cross, in 44 states, so it gets paid whether a barrel costs $40 or $140. Your parents' winter heat and the ships bound for Europe cross that steel too… about $48 million a day this year, war or peace. And the companies collecting those tolls are beating Wall Street: ⚡ Energy stocks up 20.7% in 2026… 15 times the S&P 500. 📈 Pipeline stocks up 30% in 2022, while the S&P fell 20%. 🏦 Yet the average retirement account holds 3.5% in energy. A Texas man who started as a pipeline welder owns 306 million shares of this company… today worth over $5 billion. He went ALL IN: 24 open-market purchases in 5 years, $47 million of them in a single August, and 0 sales. If you're tired of paying the toll, you can collect it instead… the company is still priced at a discount to the market, and its shares cost about $18. Sincerely, Dylan |
What Is Scheduled
Today | Tesla’s sworn answers to NHTSA on the Cybercab are due. |
3 Nov | the midterm elections. |
6 Nov | the October jobs report. |
10 Nov | the October consumer price index. |
9 Dec | the Fed’s next rate decision. |
ad This convergence is not normal. Watch the Briefing |
Seventy-Seven Billion
$77.3B | Amazon’s capital spending in one quarter, more than double a year earlier. Chaikin and Brown’s briefing is at the top of this letter. |
Forget the hot picks — read the cash-flow line before you buy the growth story. Because the best trade you’ll ever make is the loss you never took. Mike LeeDeals CatchersThanks for reading. Have a good weekend. |
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