Alibaba's Revenue Jumps 9% as AI Cloud Growth Hits 45%—But a Profit Plunge Sends Shares Lowerhttps://t.co/GvCNrbQNpO ...

>> "BLOOMBERG TECH" IS LIVE THE HEART OF SILICON VALLEY WITH ED LUDLOW IN SAN FRANCISCO. ED: THIS IS "BLOOMBERG TECH. " COMING UP, ALIBABA'S PROFIT PLUNGES MORE THAN 75% AFTER THE COMPANY INCREASED ITS QUARTERLY CAPEX TO ALMOST $10 MILLION FOR AI. PLUS, META HAS QUIETLY BECOME ONE OF MICROSOFT'S LARGEST AI CUSTOMERS, REVIVING CONCERNS OF CIRCULAR FINANCING. WE WILL HAVE THE DETAILS. A DEFENSE TECH STARTUP HITS A $13 BILLION VALUATION. WE WILL DISCUSS HOW THE COMPANY PLANS TO USE ITS LATEST FUNDING TO BOOST ...

Retail & Consumer Sector - Walmart reported a rare quarterly sales miss with growth slowing to 2.6% in the last quarter, marking its lowest rate in six years [2][3][71] - Walmart shares fell more than 7% to over 9% following the disappointing earnings report [52][68][141] - Pharmacy business dragged on Walmart due to federal drug price negotiations making drug prices lower [3] - Walmart implemented up to 11,000 price rollbacks while competitors like Target reduced prices on 10,000 items amidst aggressive retail competition [76] - US national debt topped $40 trillion for the first time, more than doubling over the past decade [25] Technology & AI Sector - Meta quietly became one of Microsoft's largest AI customers, spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year to access AI models through Microsoft's Azure cloud services [6][163] - Alibaba reported underwhelming earnings with profits plunging more than 75% as the company increases spending on AI while Chinese consumers pull back [122] Macroeconomic & Market Dynamics - US Treasury 30-year yields and bond markets faced continued pressure, remaining just a few basis points away from levels seen prior to the Treasury buyback announcement [24][87] - Brent crude oil prices climbed, trading around $93 to $94 per barrel [50][120] - Private buyers of US Treasuries, including mutual funds, foreign investors, banks, and households, now hold 70% of Treasuries compared to 30% a decade ago [20]

Market Dynamics & Competition - Chinese AI models are catching up to US counterparts faster than ever despite limited access to capital and advanced chips[1] - Major US tech firms such as DoorDash and Airbnb have already adopted Chinese AI models[3] - Washington's hardware export controls and accusations of distilling from US systems may keep Chinese models behind US top models in the short term[4][5] Cost Performance & Economic Value - Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet (referred to as Thropic's Fable 5) built a polished website in under an hour for about $50 in token costs[2] - China's Moonshot model (Kimmy K3) built a similar website for about a quarter of the price of US models[2] - OpenAI's budget GPT model and Alibaba's Qwen (referred to as Queen) offered even cheaper options, with Qwen yielding bare-bones outputs[3] - China is currently winning the competition on price, making its AI options irresistible as companies become conscious of surging AI expenses[3][5] Technology Deployment & Data Security - Users are not required to send data to China because most top Chinese AI models are open-weight[4] - Open-weight status allows companies to download, modify, and deploy these models however they want[4]

Financial Performance - Alibaba shares fell about 4% following the earnings release [1] - Revenue exceeded analyst estimates, while the bottom line fell slightly short of forecasts [1] Market Dynamics and Business Segments - Cloud revenue growth accelerated by 45% [1] - Artificial intelligence-related product revenue experienced triple-digit growth for the 12th consecutive quarter [1]

US equity futures waver and a rebound in long-dated Treasuries loses steam following US Treasury's announcement of plans to increase buybacks of longer-dated debt. US public debt hits $40 trillion for the first time. President Trump threatens an “economic D-Day” against Iran, targeting Tehran's trading partners. Sophie Huynh of BNP Paribas Asset Management discusses the market impact of the Treasury's buyback plans. Chapters: 00:00:00 - Bloomberg Brief Begins, 00:00:44 - Global Market Check: Global Markets ...

Alibaba this year cemented its status as a global AI player https://t.co/lR1j6Bv9IE ...

>> VERY GOOD THURSDAY MORNING TO YOU. I'M CHAD THOMAS AND HERE ARE YOUR TOP STORIES. ASIAN STOCKS JUMP AFTER BOND MARKET RALLY AS THE U.S. GOVERNMENT STEPS IN TO BUY LONGER DATED TREASURIES IN A BID TO STEM SURGING YIELDS.PRESIDENT TRUMP VOWS ECONOMIC WARFARE AGAINST IRAN, THREATENING TO TARGET THE COUNTRIES TRADING PARTNERS. ANOTHER TWIST IN THE ITALIAN BANKING MNA SAGA. MONTE DEI PASCHI DIRECTORS WILL MEET TODAY TO CONSIDER OPTIONS TO FEND OFF THE TAKEOVER BID.LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT'S HAPPENING ON THE ...

Macroeconomic & Market Dynamics - U.S. Treasury announced increased debt buybacks to lower borrowing costs, triggering a massive rally in Asia-Pacific risk assets, equities, and a three-month low in the U.S. dollar [2][5][6][62] - The 30-year U.S. Treasury yield touched the 5.3% threshold, prompting tactical interventions from the Treasury [14][19][127] - Global bond yields moved lower across the Asia-Pacific region, while gold and crypto assets such as Bitcoin rallied to around $70,000 [6][7] Industry Trends & Corporate Earnings - China's tech earnings season produced mixed results, with Baidu and Tencent seeing stock declines, and Kuaishou reporting a one-third drop in net income—its biggest decline since 2021—due to higher revenue sharing and increased AI investments [2][45][52] - Alibaba is positioned as a market leader in cloud computing infrastructure with over a third of the market share, anticipating 11% margins [52][53] - Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) reported a 21% rise in second-quarter net income, driven by robust trading volumes and an active IPO pipeline [94] Technology & Robotics Supply Chain - Lead Shine Technology experienced significant growth in motion control components, shipping over 120,000 units of frame torque motors (a 10-fold year-over-year increase) with orders surpassing 1 million units [85] - Synova achieved unicorn status in the humanoid robot dexterous hands sector, targeting over 10,000 units in shipments by the end of the year and pricing individual hands between 10,000 USD to 30,000 USD [209][214]

Macro & Monetary Policy - U.S. Treasury announced plans to double bond buybacks for 10-year and 30-year notes, causing 30-year yields to fall by 10 basis points[1][3][51] - U.S. public debt reached $40 trillion, with ongoing concerns over fiscal deficits and inflation[3][11][105] - U.S. and Canada reached a tentative trade deal reducing auto tariffs on certain exports to 15% and steel/aluminum to 25%[43][44] - President Trump announced unprecedented economic operations against Iran, while crude oil continued to move through the Strait of Hormuz via southern routes[26][49][71] Corporate Performance & Market Trends - SK Hynix announced a $29 billion share buyback plan to stabilize its stock price, alongside reports of raising advanced chip-making prices by 10% to 15%[1][130][134] - AIA reported a 13% growth in the value of new business to $3.2 billion, with operating profit after tax per share growing 13% and return on equity (ROE) reaching 17.5%[53][54] - Alibaba's cloud business revenue growth and AI spending came into focus ahead of first-quarter results, with free cash flow expected to see 17 billion yuan in negative territory[27][29] - Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing delivered a record half-yearly net profit with year-to-date average daily turnover exceeding 280 billion Hong Kong dollars[31][33][34] - Northern Star Resources reported a net income of $0.66 billion, while Evolution Mining reported a full-year profit of 0.5 billion Australian dollars, up 59% year-over-year[4][75]