Stock Mutual Funds Feel Amazon's Pain as Retail Giant Plunges

(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc., down about 6 percent on Monday after a fresh round of political attacks, has fallen 15 percent since reaching an all-time high March 12. A lot of U.S. mutual funds are feeling the retail giant's pain.

Forty diversified equity funds with more than $1 billion in assets have at least 6 percent of their money in Amazon, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The list excludes index products and specialized industry funds such as Fidelity Select Retailing Portfolio, which had 24 percent of its assets in the stock as of Feb. 28.

Amazon tumbled after a new round of critical comments from President Donald Trump and Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio. In a Twitter rant, Trump attacked Amazon for failing to pay enough taxes and for the losses he said the retailer imposes on the U.S. Postal Service. Rubio tweeted that while Amazon has brought lower prices it could hurt competition in the long run, saying, “Potential ‘new economy' monopolies will require close monitoring.”

One of the biggest Amazon holders was the $51 billion T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth Fund, with an 8.9 percent stake as of Dec. 31. The fund, run by Larry Puglia, beat 98 percent of rivals over the past five years, as Amazon more than quintupled over that stretch.

* Through March 29

To contact the reporter on this story: Charles Stein in Boston at cstein4@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Josh Friedman, Mary Romano

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