Before the Bell: Alibaba surges in Hong Kong

Sofina launches a capital increase, the Fed faces a tough balancing act, and Beijing steps in to ease the pressure on restaurants.

The Bel20 slipped 0.2% yesterday, despite Umicore (+3.7%) trying to keep the Brussels benchmark afloat. The Euro Stoxx 50 gained 0.6%. In the U.S., Jerome Powell struck a cautious tone over upcoming rate decisions, saying the Fed must balance two conflicting goals: fighting inflation (calling for higher rates) and protecting jobs (calling for lower rates). Powell also dismissed Donald Trump’s claim that tariffs mainly hurt foreign firms, stressing they are mostly borne by U.S. companies. Investors weren’t convinced: the S&P 500 fell 0.5% and the Nasdaq dropped 1%.

In Asia this morning, Japan’s Topix was flat, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.8%. In Brussels, Sofina announced a 545 million euro capital increase at 223 euros per share, aiming to seize new opportunities. Fluxys posts results today, while Colruyt holds its annual shareholder meeting, where it traditionally unveils its full-year outlook. In the U.S., KB Home, Cintas, and H.B. Fuller report earnings. On the macro side, Germany’s Ifo index and Belgium’s NBB business barometer will provide fresh sentiment data.

Chinese watchdog shields restaurants from delivery wars

China’s food delivery market descended into chaos earlier this summer. Heavyweights Meituan (+1.5%) and Alibaba (+7.7%) faced intense pressure as newcomers PDD Holdings (owner of Temu) and JD.com (+2.3%) fueled competition. Platforms offered extreme discounts to defend market share, but passed the costs on to restaurants via higher fees. The result: Meituan has already lost more than 30% of its market value since June. Beijing has now intervened, capping fees charged to restaurant operators.

Five new AI data centers

OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank (+5%) unveiled plans to build five new U.S. data centers under the government-backed Stargate initiative. Three will be developed by OpenAI and Oracle, while the other two will be OpenAI–SoftBank ventures. Together, they will massively boost AI infrastructure—but also require vast amounts of power. Once operational, the centers are expected to consume 7 gigawatts, equivalent to the electricity use of more than five million households. The AI boom is already spilling over into the energy sector, particularly uranium, where investor interest has been rising sharply.

Did you know…

that the OECD now expects the Fed to cut rates three more times, bringing the federal funds rate down to between 3.25% and 3.50% by next spring?

This article was translated from Dutch and was originally published on Spaarvarkens.be.