Before the Bell: Alibaba starts the week with solid gains

Lufthansa and TotalEnergies host investor days; Floridienne reports after the bell.

Markets closed last Friday with healthy gains, trimming weekly losses. The S&P 500 rose 0.6%, while the Nasdaq added 0.4%. Intel was a standout both daily (+4.4%) and weekly (+16.9%). Year-to-date, the stock is already up 75.5%. The U.S. government’s attempt to make the old, struggling tech player “great again” seems to be working for now. Electronic Arts (+14.9%) also shone after The Wall Street Journal hinted at a possible takeover bid for the gaming company. In Europe, stocks gained an average of 1%. The Bel20 advanced 0.6%, supported by Argenx (+1.7%) and KBC (+1.6%), though Melexis (-1.4%) lagged.

In Asia this morning, markets are mixed: the Topix in Tokyo fell 1.4%, but the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 1.4%. Alibaba added another 3.1%, while Tencent (+2%), BYD (+1.5%), and Baidu (+1.3%) also moved higher. This week’s earnings calendar is light, though Belgian holding Floridienne will release half-year results after the close today. Lufthansa is holding an investor day and may again announce job cuts, while TotalEnergies hosts an investor event in New York. In Belgium, inflation data is also expected.

The Art of the Deal

Uncertainty still surrounds the sale of TikTok U.S., part of China’s ByteDance. Reports suggest the business will be split into two new entities: one controlling the algorithm, the other managing commercial operations. Investors would step into the first, while ByteDance would remain the key minority shareholder. The second, revenue-generating entity would stay fully owned by ByteDance. This structure explains the relatively low sale price of TikTok U.S.—a key but loss-making unit. ByteDance as a whole is profitable, reporting second-quarter revenue of 48 billion dollars, up 25% year-on-year, topping rival Meta (47.5 billion dollars) for the first time. ByteDance was valued a month ago at 330 billion dollars, versus 1.87 trillion dollars for Meta. Belgian holding Sofina was an early investor in 2016, when ByteDance was valued at just 10 billion dollars.

Alphabet soup, fresh letters

Market acronyms never last forever. Remember FANG? Coined by Jim Cramer in 2013 to highlight Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google. Four years later, Apple was added, and we had FAANG. That label has faded as Facebook became Meta and Google rebranded as Alphabet. Today it’s the Magnificent Seven (Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet, Tesla, Amazon). Some argue Tesla should be dropped, leaving a “Big Six.” Others suggest adding Broadcom to make it the “Elite Eight.” Another proposal: focus on AI leaders—Nvidia, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon—the “Fab Four.” Give it time, and no doubt an analyst in the style of Jim Cramer will coin a catchy acronym for the Chinese tech giants too.

Did you know…

that on September 29, 2008, the S&P 500 fell 8.8% in a single day, dropping from 1,214 to 1,106 points. It was the steepest decline since the 1987 crash. The bear market linked to the credit and banking crisis lasted until March 2009. Today, the same index stands far higher, at 6,643 points.