Before the Bell: Back to Gains After All

Wall Street ended in the green again yesterday, and shares in Japan are also moving higher this morning. Alibaba isn’t being rewarded for its quarterly results.

After a strong rally, it’s normal for traders to take a breather. Shortly after the opening bell on Wall Street yesterday, the indices dipped between 0.5% (S&P 500) and 1.2% (Nasdaq). But as the session progressed, prices began to climb again, and by the close both indices were comfortably higher: +0.9% for the S&P 500 and +0.7% for the Nasdaq versus Monday’s close. Merck (+5.2%), Home Depot (+4.3%) and Nike (+2.8%) outperformed. Nvidia (-2.6%) finished in the red, pressured by Meta’s (+3.8%) threat to eventually source AI chips from Alphabet (+1.5%). European markets initially showed little reaction to Monday’s strong gains on Wall Street — the best single day in six months. Still, by the end of the session the Euro Stoxx 50 had managed to rise by 0.8%. Novo Nordisk (+4.5%) and British American Tobacco (+2.8%) also advanced. Bank stocks added around 2%. The Bel20 barely budged at +0.2%, although Solvay (+1.9%) and Syensqo (+1.4%) performed significantly better.

Asian markets are also in the green this morning. Japanese indices gained 2%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose a more modest 0.4%. On the Chinese mainland, shares climbed an average of 0.8%. Alibaba (-1.3%) is not benefiting from otherwise solid quarterly results; the stock was also down 2.3% in the U.S. yesterday. BYD (+2.9%) is doing better. The carmaker sold 94,216 vehicles in the European Union during the first ten months of the year — a 239% increase versus the same period last year. Later today, before Wall Street opens, we’ll get quarterly results from John Deere. After the bell, hardly any U.S. companies are reporting, as attention is already shifting to Thanksgiving. In Brussels, CMB.Tech reports before the open, and Ascencio publishes results after the close.

Wake Up Dormant Accounts

Two years ago, my neighbour Marie-Jeanne passed away. Earlier this month, two letters still arrived at her former home. They were from Deutsche Bank and contained two new bank cards — one for Marie-Jeanne and one for her husband, who had passed away in March 2020. This shows that part of the inheritance had clearly been overlooked; apparently, no one knew the couple still had accounts there. This morning we read that the Belgian government, in an attempt to help balance the budget, plans to liquidate dormant accounts more quickly. Instead of the current 30 years, you would have only 10 — or perhaps even just 5 — years to reclaim funds from such an account. A dormant account is one with no activity for five years. Check whether you or someone you care about might have such accounts. You can do that via MyMinfin. Here’s the link: Check dormant accounts

Alibaba: Good, But Not Good Enough

Alibaba generated quarterly revenue of 247.8 billion yuan (35 billion dollar), around 2% above expectations. But earnings per share came in much lower at 4.36 yuan versus the 5.49 yuan analysts had forecast — and that estimate was already well below last year’s figure. It shows that aggressive promotions are costly upfront. Still, there was good news. The cloud division grew strongly again, with revenue rising to 5.6 billion dollar (+34%). Cloud now represents 16% of Alibaba’s total business. Domestic consumer commerce — still 53% of group revenue — managed to return to solid growth thanks to “Quick commerce,” where sales are generated through live product demonstrations. Revenue from Quick commerce surged 60% to 3.2 billion dollar. Like its U.S. tech peers, Alibaba is investing heavily in AI. Management previously announced plans to invest 53.6 billion dollar in artificial intelligence over three years, but now warns that the final amount may be even higher. Alibaba’s shares initially reacted positively to the results (+2%) but ultimately closed 2.3% lower. Despite a 108% gain since the start of the year, the stock still trades 48% below its peak from five years ago.

Did you know…

it’s been five years this month since Chinese authorities blocked the IPO of Ant Group? The payments subsidiary of Alibaba was set for a separate listing, but the plan was halted after Jack Ma, Alibaba’s founder and then-CEO, sharply criticised China’s banking system.

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