Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The major averages continue to chart session lows at midday. 

Amazon (AMZN 239.11, -5.08, -2.08%) announced this morning that it expanded its U.S. less-than-truckload freight service beyond its prior inbound-to-Amazon model, allowing businesses to ship palletized freight to third-party warehouses, distribution centers, retail partners, and other destinations.

The announcement is weighing on LTL and freight-related names including Old Dominion (ODFL 235.37, -13.36, -5.37%), XPO, Inc. (XPO 216.49, -11.09, -4.87%), FedEx Freight (FDXF 178.88, -9.58, -5.08%), and UPS (UPS 104.17, -3.70, -3.43%). Investors are reading this as a competitive risk as Amazon continues using its logistics scale and Supply Chain Services platform to move further into freight services for outside businesses.

The move comes against a freight backdrop that has been showing signs of improvement, though demand is still uneven. Recent carrier reports have pointed to firmer pricing and some improvement in shipment trends, suggesting today's weakness is more about Amazon-related competitive concerns than a fresh deterioration in freight demand.