Amazon shares close lower on Wednesday, EU antitrust regulators scrutinize use of merchant data by the e-commerce giant

According to a statement by European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager on Wednesday, EU antitrust regulators are trying to determine whether they need to act in relation with the use of merchant data by US e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc (AMZN).

Amazon shares closed lower for the fourth time in the past seven trading sessions on NASDAQ on Wednesday. The stock went down 0.75% ($14.63) to $1,926.42, after touching an intraday low at $1,904.90, or a price level not seen since September 17th ($1,887.41).

Shares of Amazon.com Inc have surged 64.73% so far in 2018 compared with an 8.76% gain for the underlying index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2017, Amazon’s stock rose 55.96%, thus, it again outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 19.42% return.

According to the regulatory authority, the issue lies in that a company hosts merchants on its website and concurrently competes with these entities by using the data they provide for the purpose of its own sales.

In case a company violates EU antitrust rules, it could face a fine of up to 10% of its global turnover.

“We are gathering information on the issue and we have sent quite a number of questionnaires to market participants in order to understand this issue in full,” Margrethe Vestager said during a news conference, cited by Reuters.

“These are very early days and we haven’t formally opened a case. We are trying to make sure that we get the full picture,” Vestager added.

According to CNN Money, the 44 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Amazon.com Inc’s stock price, have a median target of $2,105.00, with a high estimate of $2,500.00 and a low estimate of $1,870.00. The median estimate represents a 9.27% upside compared to the closing price of $1,926.42 on September 19th.

The same media also reported that 40 out of 47 surveyed investment analysts had rated Amazon.com Inc’s stock as “Buy”, while 2 – as “Hold”.

Daily and Weekly Pivot Levels

With the help of the Camarilla calculation method, todays levels of importance for the Amazon stock are presented as follows:

R1 – $1,929.71
R2 – $1,933.01
R3 (Range Resistance – Sell) – $1,936.30
R4 (Long Breakout) – $1,946.18
R5 (Breakout Target 1) – $1,957.72
R6 (Breakout Target 2) – $1,962.76

S1 – $1,923.13
S2 – $1,919.83
S3 (Range Support – Buy) – $1,916.54
S4 (Short Breakout) – $1,906.66
S5 (Breakout Target 1) – $1,895.12
S6 (Breakout Target 2) – $1,890.08

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for Amazon.com Inc (AMZN) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $1,965.32
R1 – $2,013.63
R2 – $2,057.08
R3 – $2,105.39
R4 – $2,153.71

S1 – $1,921.87
S2 – $1,873.56
S3 – $1,830.11
S4 – $1,786.67