The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that Amazon on Thursday posted first-quarter cloud revenue growth and forecast operating income below estimates, disappointing investors. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says that shares of the company fell as much as 5 per cent in after-hours trading before moderating. Amazon Web Services, the company's cloud unit, recorded a 16.9-per-cent increase in quarterly revenue, to $29.27-billion (U.S.), missing expectations of 17.4-per-cent growth and $30.9-billion (U.S.) in sales. Rival Microsoft, by comparison, reported on Wednesday that it had exceeded estimates for its Azure cloud unit. AWS revenue grew at its slowest pace in five quarters. "It's always felt like AWS and Google Cloud were taking the most share for quite some time, but maybe that's starting to turn because Microsoft posted great numbers," said Dave Wagner at Aptus Capital. He said expectations for Amazon were higher after Microsoft's strong performance. High tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump on goods imported from China have cast uncertainty on retailers such as Amazon. Some sellers, for instance, have said they plan to sit out the company's heavily promoted Prime Day sales event in July.