"Nearly half of consumers are delaying purchases due to uncertainty in the economy, while 42 percent are planning to decrease their usage of credit cards," Lazard Capital analyst Colin Sebastian wrote this morning. Don't make too much of it yet: Lazard's lowered Amazon.com earnings estimates only a sliver, from $1.58 to $1.55 per share for 2008. Annual revenue for 2009, likewise, is lowered only a quarter-billion from $24.75 billion to $24.50 billion. That's 250 million bucks to you and me, but not much to Bezos and company. (Photo by AP/Ted S. Warren)

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