US tech titans stumble after pandemic boom

Amazon and Apple were a relative bright spot in a week of otherwise lackluster earnings results for an industry reckoning with the end of heady pandemic-era growth.

A crowded period of quarterly financial releases from the world’s biggest tech firms has been marred by misses and uncertainty — making it clear that the boom triggered by Covid-19 restrictions on getting about has tipped toward downturn.

As people are freed from pandemic lifestyles that had them relying on the internet for shopping, playing, working and learning, inflation is pushing up prices and Covid-19 is causing temporary shutdowns of factories in China relied on by tech firms.