New York, March 2, 2026, 05:13 (EST) — Premarket
Amazon.com (AMZN.O) shares were in focus in premarket trade on Monday after its cloud unit flagged power and connectivity problems at data centers in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, following weekend attacks across the Gulf region. AWS said one zone in the UAE was hit after “objects” struck a data center and caused sparks and a fire, and warned recovery could take “multiple hours.” 1
The outage matters because AWS is the company’s profit engine and the part investors watch most closely when risk rises. Big customers build for failures, but a security-driven shutdown tests the pitch that cloud computing is resilient, even when events turn violent.
It also lands as markets try to price the knock-on effects of a widening Middle East conflict, from fuel costs to disrupted logistics. That backdrop can overwhelm company news, but it can also magnify it when the headline touches infrastructure.
Amazon ended the last session on Friday up 1% at $210, after trading between $205.20 and $210.33. 2
Investors will be watching whether the AWS disruption stays ring-fenced to a single availability zone — a cluster of data centers inside a broader cloud “region” — or spreads to adjacent services. Any sign of customer impact tends to surface fast in cloud status updates and in chatter from companies that rely on AWS.
The obvious risk is a longer tail: credits to customers, workloads shifted elsewhere, or tighter spending as clients rethink how much capacity they want in the region. The flip side is that the event proves short-lived, becomes a headline that fades by the open, and leaves the stock trading mostly with the broader tape.
Separately, Vodafone said it has signed a deal with Amazon’s low Earth orbit satellite network, Amazon Leo, to connect 4G and 5G mobile masts in remote parts of Europe and Africa. Vodafone said it would begin in Germany and other European markets this year and then expand across Africa via Vodacom. 3
Amazon also moved on the retail front in India, saying it will stop charging sellers referral fees — a commission on each sale — for products priced below 1,000 rupees ($10.98). The company said the change will take effect on March 16 and cover more than 125 million products; it also trimmed some shipping charges. “This move is designed to make selling on Amazon more lucrative and simpler,” said Amit Nanda, director of Selling Partner Services for Amazon India. 4
The India push comes as Amazon fights for merchants and shoppers against Walmart-backed Flipkart and Reliance’s retail arm, while “quick-commerce” rivals promising delivery in minutes have been grabbing share. Cutting fees can bring sellers in, but it also pressures take rates — a tradeoff investors will watch for in a market where growth is not the only goal.
Macro is doing its own work: the Iran conflict is disrupting oil and LNG flows and has pushed crude prices sharply higher, raising the odds that investors lean defensive into the week. 5
For Monday, traders will track AWS’s recovery timeline and any expansion of the Gulf disruptions, then look for signs that the issue is spilling into customer operations. The next dated catalyst inside the company’s own control is March 16, when Amazon’s new India fee structure is due to kick in.
