Amazon profit jumps on strong holiday quarter

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Amazon on Thursday reported its profit in the past quarter leapt to $3 billion on strong holiday retail sales and its soaring cloud computing business.

The US tech giant said net sales in the fourth quarter of 2018 increased 20 percent to $72.4 billion compared to the same quarter a year earlier, while profit was up some 63 percent.

Amazon shares held in a narrow range as the better-than-expected results were offset in part by a disappointing outlook for sales growth in the current quarter.

The results reflected growth in Amazon's vast online retail operations as well as its large cloud computing division known as Amazon Web Services.

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