In this edition, antitrust issues curbing Big Tech M&A; a look at semiconductor industry; Hanesbrands' transformation has been overlooked; and EasyJet, Humana, and Repligen.

Amazon is the leading online retailer and marketplace for third party sellers. Retail related revenue represents approximately 75% of total, followed by Amazon Web Services' cloud computing, storage, database, and other offerings (15%), advertising services (5% to 10%), and other the remainder. International segments constitute 25% to 30% of Amazon's non-AWS sales, led by Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan.

The back-to-school shopping season has just ended. In a blink, we'll be shopping for the holidays. That's should add up to a lot of shopping - but we'll see how secure consumers are feeling about their finances. Shopping patterns offer great insight into the state of consumers, who are the backbone of the U.S. economy (accounting for two-thirds of GDP). It's still a little early for some of the bigger industry groups to put out their holiday estimates, but we do have some data points to consider. Overall, the National Retail Federation expects retail sales to increase 2.5%-3.5% for the entire year. Stastista expects a 4% increase in holiday sales for 2024 compared to 2023. eMarketer forecasts a healthy 4.8% rise in holiday sales compared to last year. Salesforce predicts a 2% increase in 2024 holiday sales, which is still growing but at a slower pace than the 3% logged last year. In sum, consumer spending growth could be between 2%-5% this holiday period. Meanwhile, Forbes notes the following particulars about this upcoming holiday season: 1) it is shortened, with only 27 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas; 2) past presidential election years have shown a dip in spending leading up to and following the election; and 3) Walmart and Amazon account for roughly 38% of total retail growth, presenting a challenge for other retailers. The following is a list of BUY-rated stocks in Argus' Universe of Coverage. These represent companies that are leaders in the retail industry. Some of these stocks are also in various Argus portfolios.

Amazon is the leading online retailer and marketplace for third party sellers. Retail related revenue represents approximately 75% of total, followed by Amazon Web Services' cloud computing, storage, database, and other offerings (15%), advertising services (5% to 10%), and other the remainder. International segments constitute 25% to 30% of Amazon's non-AWS sales, led by Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan.