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BDO USA | Promotion Shawn Harrigan

BDO USA has named Shawn Harrigan an Assurance Principal in the Richmond office. With 22 years’ experience, Harrigan focuses on REITs, real estate fund audits, commercial buildings, hotels, HOAs, and affordable housing. His experience includes accounting, modeling, forecasting, auditing, and compliance of projects subject to regulatory requirements.

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JPMorgan opens $3B Manhattan HQ redefining NYC skyline

SUMMARY:

  • $3B, 60-story JPMorgan HQ opens at 270 Park Avenue
  • Building to house 10,000 New York employees
  • Designed by architect Norman Foster, 1,388 feet tall

NEW YORK (AP) — unveiled its new 60-story headquarters to the public on Monday, one of the first major office buildings to be constructed after the COVID-19 pandemic and one that will remake the skyline for decades.

The bronze and steel tower at 270 Park, which reportedly cost $3 billion, replaced the Union Carbide Building, which sat on a full city block between 47th and 48th Street and Park Avenue and Madison Avenue for nearly 60 years. JPMorgan expects to house roughly 10,000 of its 24,000 New York-based employees in the new building, with some employees starting their first workday at the tower at the same time as the company holds its ribbon cutting ceremony.

“For 225 years, JPMorgan Chase has always been deeply rooted in New York City. The opening of our new global headquarters is not only a significant investment in New York, but also testament to our commitment to our clients and employees worldwide,” said , CEO and chairman of JPMorgan, in a statement.

The completion of the new 270 Park is a major accomplishment for Dimon, who has been one of loudest voices calling for employees to report to an office for work. The building was designed before the COVID-19 pandemic made remote work more common. The bank held meetings to consider halting work on the building to either redesign it or scale it back, but Dimon was insistent that work should continue as designed.

Both politicians and CEOs, particularly CEOs, have been vocal about the need for companies to have offices. New York politicians must answer to local businesses that have existed for decades and are used by workers to eat, groom, shop and drink at.

“To have this investment at this extraordinary time is a testament to that New York audacity and ambition,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul, who attended as part of the ribbon cutting ceremony. The ceremony ended with the playing of “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z and Alicia Keyes.

At 1,388 feet, the new building designed by famed architect Norman Foster, is taller than the Empire State Building’s roofline and is now the fourth-largest building in Manhattan. The building contains 2.5 million square feet and a block’s worth of public space. The bank also commissioned five new artworks for the building, adding to the bank’s already substantial art collection. The bank will house its trading operations in the building across eight floors, and has contracted out several food and coffee vendors to create a city-within-a-building concept.

The building was a major engineering and architectural undertaking by Foster, the building’s lead architect and Tishman Speyer, who handled construction and engineering. The old Union Carbide building had to be systematically demolished over a period of two years, most of that demolition happening during the pandemic. Construction was complicated by the fact the site sits above the rails of the Metro North Railroad and the Long Island Railroad that run underneath Park Avenue into Grand Central Terminal.

For years, JPMorgan has worked out of several buildings around Grand Central Terminal, a result of the bank’s growth and acquisitions over the years.

Corporate execs and investment bankers still use 383 Madison Ave, the former headquarters of Bear Stearns, and 277 Park, which housed Chemical Bank, also a predecessor of the current JPMorgan Chase. Parts of JPMorgan started using the Union Carbide Building in the mid-1990s, but the bank always struggled to fit all its operations in the building. The building was designed to house 3,000 employees when it was built in the 1960s, and JPMorgan housed more than 6,000 there within a few short years of moving in.

With 270 Park finished, the bank says it will now start a renovation of 383 Madison. Dimon said the bank has purchased a few other adjacent properties near 270 Park to centralize its operations around its new headquarters for the long term.

Warner Bros. Discovery weighs sale after receiving buyout offers

SUMMARY:

NEW YORK (AP) —

Warner Bros. Discovery — the home of HBO, CNN and DC Studios — has signaled that it may be open to selling all or parts of its business, just months after announcing plans to split into two companies.

In an announcement Tuesday, the and media giant said it had initiated a review of “strategic alternatives” in light of “unsolicited interest” it had received from multiple parties, for both the entire company and Warner Bros. specifically.

Warner Bros. Discovery did not specify where that interest was coming from, and a spokesperson said the company couldn’t share additional information when reached by The Associated Press. But its review arrives after growing reports of a potential bidding war — including from Skydance-owned Paramount, which closed its own $8 billion merger in early August.

Citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter, The Journal recently reported that Paramount approached Warner Bros. Discovery about a majority-cash offer in late September — but that Warner Chief Executive  had rebuffed those first overtures. According to the outlet, Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison later considered taking a more aggressive approach, such as going directly to shareholders.

CNBC has also reported that Netflix and Comcast are among other interested parties, citing unnamed sources. Comcast declined to comment Tuesday. Paramount and Netflix did not immediately respond to the AP’s requests for statements.

If a sale of all or part of Warner Bros. Discovery arrives, it would mark a considerable shift in the U.S. media landscape that is “already trending towards a concerning level of consolidation,” said Mike Proulx, VP research director at Forrester.

He pointed to the space in particular — noting that, on one hand, a potential transaction could help scale the company’s streamers to better compete with other platforms. But on the other hand, consumers could see fewer choices controlled by just a handful of corporate giants.

“When just a few conglomerates, like Skydance, increasingly control the lion’s share of some of the most popular platforms, it raises all sorts of questions around the future of content diversity and expression,” Proulx said over email Tuesday. “Bigger is better might be good for shareholders but will consumers ultimately benefit with better quality content, lower prices, and accessibility?”

Still, he added, much of that will depend on if a sale happens and who ends up buying Warner Bros. Discovery.

Back in June, Warner Bros. Discovery outlined plans to split its cable and streaming offerings — with HBO, HBO Max, as well as Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, DC Studios, to become part of a new streaming and studios company; while networks like CNN, Discovery and TNT Sports and digital products such as the Discovery+ streaming service and Bleacher Report would make up a separate cable counterpart.

Warner expected the split to be complete by mid-2026 — and said Tuesday that continuing to advance this separation was still among the options it’s considering.

“We took the bold step of preparing to separate the Company into two distinct, leading media companies, Warner Bros. and Discovery Global, because we strongly believed this was the best path forward,” Zaslav said in a statement. Still, he added, “it’s no surprise that the significant value of our portfolio is receiving increased recognition by others in the market.”

The company said that there’s no definite timeline for its review process — and noted that, beyond the separation that is already underway, “there can be no assurance” that a transaction will emerge.

Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, headquartered in New York, were up nearly 11% by market close on Tuesday.

Warner Bros. Discovery was created just three years ago when AT&T spun off WarnerMedia, which was merged with Discovery Communications in a $43 billion deal. An even bigger transaction could attract antitrust scrutiny — but like other recent mega-mergers and proposed transactions, could find success under the .

Dow hits record as 3M, Coca-Cola, other stocks climb

SUMMARY:

  • finishes 0.3% below record high
  • Dow rises 0.5%
  • GM, , 3M stocks rise

NEW YORK (AP) — The Industrial Average hit a record on Tuesday as the floodgates opened for companies reporting how much profit they made during the summer.

The Dow rose 218 points, or 0.5%, and topped its prior all-time high, which was set early this month. The S&P 500 index, which is much more important on and dictates the performance of many more 401(k) accounts, was essentially flat and finished 0.3% below its own record, while the composite slipped 0.2%.

3M helped drive the Dow to its record after reporting bigger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its stock had the biggest jump in price among the 30 companies that make up the average.

In the more representative S&P 500 index, General Motors helped lead the way and rallied 14.9% after reporting stronger quarterly results than analysts expected, while also raising its forecasts for some full-year financial targets. CEO Mary Barra said it’s moving quickly to reduce its losses in 2026 and beyond for its electric-vehicle business, as “it is now clear” that EV adoption will be lower than planned.

RTX, the aerospace and defense company based in Arlington County, rose 7.7%, and Coca-Cola climbed 4.1% after they likewise reported profit for the latest quarter that topped Wall Street’s profit expectations.

leaped 11% after the company said it’s now considering other options besides its previously announced split of Discovery Global off Warner Bros., ones that could be more profitable for shareholders. The company said it may be changing course after hearing from “multiple parties” interested in either the entire company or Warner Bros.

Keeping the market in check were drops for some Big Tech stocks, which lost momentum following their own big rallies. A 2.4% drop for Google’s parent company, Alphabet, from its all-time high was among the heaviest weights on the S&P 500. So were Broadcom’s 1.9% fall and Nvidia’s 0.8% decline.

All told, the S&P 500 edged up by 0.22 to 6,735.35 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 218.16 to 46,924.74, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 36.88 to 22,953.67.

Other big recent winners in financial markets also took a pause. The price of gold fell 5.7% from its latest record, dropping back to $4,109.10 per ounce. It’s still up nearly 56% for the year so far.

The pressure is on companies to show that their profits are growing following a torrid rally of 35% for the S&P 500 from a low in April. It’s one way they can justify their high stock prices amid criticism that they’re too expensive.

reports have also gained importance because they offer some details on the strength of the when the U.S. government’s shutdown has delayed important economic updates. The delays are making the job of the more difficult, as it tries to decide whether high inflation or the slowing job market is the bigger issue for the economy.

Despite the shutdown, the Commerce Department will release its report on for U.S. consumers Friday, which could help guide the Fed’s policy on what to do with interest rates. It’s the government’s first data release since the shutdown began on Oct. 1.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.3% and crept closer to the 50,000 level as conservative lawmaker Sanae Takaichi became the country’s prime minister. Investors expect her to push for lower interest rates and other policies that could help the market.

Indexes rose 1.4% in Shanghai and 0.7% in Hong Kong amid expectations that President Donald Trump will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month during a regional summit. That’s raised hopes for an easing of tensions between the world’s biggest economies.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 3.95% from 4.00% late Monday.

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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

Dominion’s offshore wind vessel arrives in Hampton Roads

The United States’ first offshore wind turbine installation vessel — set to play a major role in constructing ‘s () project — has arrived home in , five years after construction first began.

The $715 million, U.S.-flagged ship, named after the sea monster from Greek mythology, arrived at Portsmouth Marine Terminal on Sept. 17, according to Energy spokesperson Jeremy Slayton.

The vessel, owned by Dominion through its subsidiary Blue Ocean Energy Marine, will play a crucial role in the utility’s $10.9 billion CVOW project off the coast of , as it will install CVOW’s 176 wind turbine generators and their components, such as the turbine towers, nacelles and blades.

While construction of Charybdis wrapped up in September, Slayton said that the vessel is currently undergoing its final punch list items in accordance with its certificate of inspection. He did not provide an estimated date for when the ship would begin erecting the turbines.

Once operational, CVOW will consist of 176 wind turbines generating up to 9.5 million megawatt-hours per year, or enough energy to power up to 660,000 homes.

Dominion first announced plans for Charybdis in 2020, with construction beginning that same year in Brownsville, Texas. According to Slayton, at peak, the project employed more than 2,000 workers who engaged in welding, fabricating and construction activities.

The vessel’s hull measures 472 feet in length, 184 feet in width and 38 feet in depth, making it one of the largest vessels of its type worldwide. Its crane can lift up to 2,200 tons and can handle both current turbine technologies and next-generation sizes of 12 megawatts or larger. The vessel has accommodations for 119 people.

According to Slayton, the vessel can carry the components for four turbines at a time. Turbine installation times will vary, though it is expected to get faster as Dominion advances along in the project.

The ship is compliant with the 1920 federal Jones Act, which requires cargo moved between U.S. to be ferried by a U.S.-flagged vessel.

“Jones Act compliance is important because Charybdis can move between a U.S. point and another U.S. point,” Slayton said via email. “Meaning, Charybdis can load up with turbine components at Portsmouth Marine Terminal (a U.S. point) and install them on top of a monopile foundation (a U.S. point) in the sea.”

The CVOW project is about 60% complete, Slayton said, and remains on schedule for full completion in late 2026, with CVOW anticipated to begin delivering power to the grid in Q1 2026.

Nuclear security agency begins furloughing workers as part of shutdown, energy secretary says

SUMMARY:

  • NNSA 1,400 federal workers during shutdown
  • Energy Secretary Wright says stockpile remains secure
  • Lawmakers warn of risks from work stoppage

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal agency tasked with overseeing the U.S. nuclear stockpile has begun furloughing employees as part of the ongoing federal government shutdown, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Monday.

In a visit to Nevada, Wright said the is furloughing 1,400 federal workers as part of the shutdown, which began Oct. 1. Nearly 400 federal workers will remain on the job, along with thousands of NNSA contractors, the Energy Department said. The NNSA, a semi-autonomous branch of the Energy Department, also works to secure nuclear materials around the world.

“Tough day today,″ Wright said in Las Vegas before a scheduled visit to the Nevada National Security Site in Mercury, Nevada. ”We’re working hard to protect everyone’s jobs and keep our national stockpile secure,” Wright said.

The furloughs do not pose an immediate threat to national security, Wright said, adding: “We have emergency employees and the current nuclear stockpile is safe.”

‘s Republican administration fired hundreds of NNSA employees earlier this year, before reversing course amid criticism the action could jeopardize national security. Similar criticism emerged Monday after Wright’s announcement.

Wright said the disruption would affect employees and their families and will delay testing of commercial reactors, including some small modular reactors that the has pushed as a cheaper alternative to costly nuclear plants that can take years or even decades to bring online.

“These are jobs of great gravity,” Wright said, urging congressional leaders to reopen the government as soon as possible.

Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts said it was “dangerously unacceptable that the Trump administration claims it will have to temporarily suspend certain nuclear security programs because of the ongoing .”

“There is no justification for relaxing security and oversight when it comes to our nuclear stockpile,” Markey said.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said lawmakers were informed of the pending furloughs late last week.

“These are not employees that you want to go home,” he said at a news conference Friday. “They’re managing and handling a very important strategic asset for us. They need to be at work and being paid.”

At the heart of the government shutdown are looming health insurance spikes for millions of people. Democrats are seeking negotiations on expiring health care subsidies while Republicans say they won’t discuss it, or any other policy, until the government reopens.

The February firings, which initially included NNSA workers, were part of a massive purge of federal workers led by then-Trump adviser Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency.

One of the hardest-hit offices at the time was the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas. Those employees work on reassembling warheads, among the most sensitive jobs across the nuclear weapons enterprise, with the highest levels of clearance.

Employees received furlough notices dated Sunday for 30 days or less, with an expiration date of Nov. 18. Employees who are not involved in performing critical functions such as those related to the safety of human life and the protection of property or working on the orderly suspension of operations were being placed in a furlough status without pay.

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Jennifer McDermott in Providence, R.I., and Ty O’Neil in Las Vegas contributed to this story.

US, Australia sign critical-minerals agreement to counter China

SUMMARY:

  • Trump, Albanese sign $8.5B rare earth agreement
  • Deal strengthens U.S.- ties
  • Move aims to reduce reliance on ‘s mineral exports

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a critical-minerals deal at the White House on Monday as the U.S. eyes the continent’s rich rare-earth resources when China is imposing tougher rules on exporting its own critical minerals abroad.

The two leaders described the agreement as an $8.5 billion deal between the allies. Trump said it had been negotiated over several months.

“In about a year from now we’ll have so much critical mineral and rare earth that you won’t know what to do with them,” said Trump, a Republican, boasting about the deal. “They’ll be worth $2.”

Albanese added that the agreement takes the U.S.-Australia relationship “to the next level.”

This month, Beijing announced that it will require foreign companies to get approval from the Chinese government to export magnets containing even trace amounts of rare-earth materials that originated from China or were produced with Chinese . The says this gives China broad power over the global economy by controlling the tech supply chain.

“Australia is really, really going to be helpful in the effort to take the global economy and make it less risky, less exposed to the kind of rare earth extortion that we’re seeing from the Chinese,” Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House’s National Economic Council, told reporters on Monday morning ahead of Trump’s meeting with Albanese.

Hassett noted that Australia has one of the best economies in the world, while praising its refiners and its abundance of rare earth resources. Among the Australian officials accompanying Albanese are ministers overseeing resources and industry and science, and Australia has dozens of critical minerals sought by the U.S.

The agreement underscores how the U.S. is using its global allies to counter China, especially as it weaponizes its traditional dominance in rare earth materials that are used in everything from jet engines and electric vehicles to laptops and phones. Top Trump officials have used the tactics from Beijing as a rallying cry for the U.S. and its allies to work together to try to minimize China’s influence.

“China is a command-and-control economy, and we and our allies will neither be commanded nor controlled,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week. “They are a state economy and we are not going to let a group of bureaucrats in Beijing try to manage the global supply chains.”

Albanese’s visit comes just before Trump is planning to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea later this month.

Another topic of discussion was , a security pact with Australia, the U.S. and the United Kingdom that was signed during U.S. President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration.

Trump has not indicated publicly whether he would want to keep AUKUS intact, and the Pentagon is reviewing the agreement. Albanese said during his meeting with Trump that “our defense and security partnership with AUKUS is so important for us.”

John Phelan, the Navy secretary, said that the U.S. wants to take the original AUKUS framework and improve it for the three signatory countries while clarifying “some of the ambiguity” in it.

“So it should be a win-win for everybody,” Phelan said.

The center-left Albanese was reelected in May and suggested shortly after his win that his party increased its majority by not modeling itself on Trumpism.

“Australians have chosen to face global challenges the Australian way, looking after each other while building for the future,” Albanese told supporters during his victory speech.

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Associated Press writer Didi Tang contributed to this report.

Trump suggests US will buy Argentine beef to bring down prices for American consumers

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) — President Donald Trump said the United States could buy Argentine in an attempt to bring down prices for American consumers.

“We would buy some beef from ,” the Republican president told reporters aboard Air Force One during a flight from Florida to Washington on Sunday. “If we do that, that will bring our beef prices down.”

Trump promised days earlier to address the issue as part of his efforts to keep in check.

U.S. beef prices have been stubbornly high for a variety of reasons, including drought and reduced imports from Mexico due to a flesh-eating pest in cattle herds there.

Trump has been working to help Argentina bolster its collapsing currency with a $20 billion credit swap line and additional financing from sovereign funds and the private sector ahead of midterm elections for his close ally President Javier Milei.

Wall Street rallies and gets near its all-time high


SUMMARY:

  • rises 1.2%, near record high
  • jumps 17.6% on deal hints
  • Apple climbs 4.3% on strong iPhone demand

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rallied on Monday to the cusp of their records.

The S&P 500 climbed 1.1% and pulled within 0.3% of its all-time high set earlier this month. The Industrial Average jumped 515 points, or 1.1%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1.4%.

Apple led the way and rose 3.9% amid optimism about demand for its latest iPhone design. It was the strongest force lifting the S&P 500 and set its own record high.

Cleveland-Cliffs jumped 21.5% after the steel company’s CEO, Lourenco Goncalves, said it would provide details soon about a potential deal with a major global steel producer that could mean bigger profits. He also said his company has potentially found signs of at sites in Michigan and Minnesota.

Such materials have grabbed the global spotlight after recently put curbs on the export of its own rare earths, a move that President Donald Trump characterized as hostile. Trump’s ensuing threat of higher tariffs triggered big swings for Wall Street, but the concerns eased a bit after Trump said such high tax rates on Chinese imports are unsustainable.

Another source of worry for Wall Street, from the , also appears to be easing. Stocks of smaller and midsized banks climbed Monday, recovering some of their losses after a couple raised alarm bells last week by warning about potentially bad loans they’ve made.

Zions Bancorp. gained 4.7% Monday following its 5.1% drop last week, when it said it had found “apparent misrepresentations and contractual defaults” related to a couple borrowers.

Amazon’s stock held up despite a widespread outage for its service that caused disruption for internet users around the world Monday. Amazon’s stock rose 1.6%.

All told, the S&P 500 added 71.12 points to 6,735.13. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 515.97 to 46,706.58, and the Nasdaq composite gained 310.57 to 22,990.54.

This week features a raft of big names reporting their latest quarterly results, including Coca-Cola on Tuesday, Tesla on Wednesday and Procter & Gamble on Friday.

The pressure is on companies broadly to show that their profits are growing following a torrid run of 35% for the S&P 500 from a low in April. Delivering bigger profits is one of the easiest ways for companies to quiet criticism that stock prices have gone too high. The other is for stock prices to fall.

Corporate profit reports have also taken on more importance because they offer windows into the strength of the when the U.S. government’s shutdown has delayed important economic updates.

That’s making the job of the Federal Reserve more difficult, as it tries to decide whether high inflation or the slowing job market is the bigger issue for the economy. Fed officials have indicated they’re likely to cut rates several more times in order to give the economy a boost. But that could be a mistake if worsens, because low interest rates can push it even higher.

On Friday, the will issue an update for inflation during September. The report was supposed to arrive earlier in month, and the Social Security Administration needs the numbers to calculate cost-of-living adjustments for beneficiaries. But the government also said, “No other releases will be rescheduled or produced until the resumption of regular government services.”

In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady. The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 3.98% from 4.02% late Friday.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 3.4%, after its governing Liberal Democrats found a new coalition partner, securing support for its leader Sanae Takaichi to become the country’s prime minister. Investors expect Takaichi, who would also be Japan’s first female prime minister, to push for low interest rates, higher government spending and other policies that could help the market.

Indexes rose 2.4% in Hong Kong and 0.6% in Shanghai after China reported its economy grew at a 4.8% annual pace in the last quarter, supported by relatively strong exports as companies increased shipments markets other than the U.S.

Still, it was the slowest pace in a year. The world’s second-largest economy is still struggling to emerge from a prolonged downturn in its property market and to encourage consumers and businesses to spend more.

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AP Business Writers David McHugh and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

Amazon cloud computing outage disrupts major online services


SUMMARY:

  • affected apps like Snapchat, Roblox, and Signal
  • cited DNS issues in US-EAST-1 region
  • Services recovered after about three hours

LONDON (AP) — A problem with Amazon’s service disrupted internet use around the world Monday, taking down a broad range of online services, including social media, gaming, food delivery, and financial platforms.

The disruption and the ensuing exasperation it caused served as the latest reminder that 21st century society is increasingly dependent on technology that seems to work reliably until it suddenly breaks down like a jalopy on the side of the road.

About three hours after the outage began, said it was starting to recover from the problem, although problems lingered for some users. AWS provides behind-the-scenes cloud computing infrastructure to some of the world’s biggest organizations. Its customers include government departments, universities and businesses, including The Associated Press.

Cybersecurity expert Mike Chapple said “a slow and bumpy recovery process” is “entirely normal.”

As engineers roll out fixes across the cloud computing infrastructure, the process could trigger smaller disruptions, he said.

“It’s similar to what happens after a large-scale power outage: While a city’s power is coming back online, neighborhoods may see intermittent glitches as crews finish the repairs,” said Chapple, an information professor at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business.

Amazon pinned the outage on issues related to its domain name system, which converts web addresses into IP addresses, which are numeric designations that identify locations on the internet. Those addresses allow websites and apps to load on internet-connected devices.

DownDetector, a website that tracks online outages, said in a Facebook post that it received over 11 million user reports of problems at more than 2,500 companies. Users reported trouble with the social media site Snapchat, the Roblox and video games, the online broker Robinhood, the McDonald’s app and the education app Canvas, as well as , Disney+ and many other services.

The cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and the Signal chat app both said on X that they were experiencing issues related to the outage.

Even Amazon’s own services were not immune. Users of the company’s Ring doorbell cameras and Alexa-powered smart speakers reported that they were not working, while others said they were unable to access the Amazon website or download books to their Kindle.

This is not the first time issues with Amazon cloud services have caused widespread disruptions.

Many popular internet services were affected by a brief outage in 2023. AWS’s longest outage in recent history occurred in late 2021, when a wide range of companies — from airlines and auto dealerships to payment apps and video streaming services — were affected for more than five hours. Outages also happened in 2020 and 2017.

The first signs of trouble emerged at around 3:11 a.m. Eastern time, when AWS reported on its “health dashboard” that it was “investigating increased error rates and latencies for multiple AWS services in the US-EAST-1 Region.” Later, the company reported that there were “significant error rates” and that engineers were “actively working” on the problem.

Around 6 a.m. Eastern time, the company reported seeing recovery across most of the affected services and said it was seeking a “full resolution.” As of midday, AWS was still working to resolve the trouble.

Sixty-four internal AWS services were affected, the company said.

Because much of the world now relies on three or four companies to provide the underlying infrastructure of the internet, “when there’s an issue like this, it can be really impactful” across many online services, said Patrick Burgess, a cybersecurity expert at U.K.-based BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

“The world now runs on the cloud,” Burgess said.

And because so much of the online world’s plumbing is underpinned by a handful of companies, when something goes wrong, “it’s very difficult for users to pinpoint what is happening because we don’t see Amazon, we just see Snapchat or Roblox,” Burgess said.

“The good news is that this kind of issue is usually relatively fast” to resolve, and there’s no indication that it was caused by a cyberattack, Burgess said.

“This looks like a good old-fashioned technology issue. Something’s gone wrong, and it will be fixed by Amazon,” he said.

There are “well-established processes” to deal with outages at AWS, as well as rivals Google and Microsoft, Burgess said, adding that such outages are usually fixed in “hours rather than days.”

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Associated Press videojournalist Mustakim Hasnath in London contributed to this report.