Alibaba surprised financial markets today by announcing better-than-expected quarterly revenue. It seems the Chinese e-commerce giant is rebounding rapidly, thanks to the economic reopening. China was one of the last countries to ease the coronavirus pandemic restrictions in December 2022. Beijing’s strict policy and lockdowns hindered economic growth and sent the country into recession. However, now it’s recovering faster than economists predicted.
A new report showed that revenue surged forward by 2% to 247.76 billion yuan for its fiscal Q3 to December 31. A Refinitiv consensus estimate was 245.18 billion yuan, though. Thanks to the good news, U.S. shares of Alibaba rallied by 6.1% in pre-market trade. Moreover, JD.com Inc (9618.HK) and Pinduoduo Inc (PDD.O) gained approximately 3% each.
In December, total retail sales shrunk by 1.8% in China. Besides, the country’s economy expanded by 3% last year. That is one of the worst growth rates China reported in almost half a century. At the same time, net income attributable to ordinary investors jumped by 69% to 46.82 billion yuan. The number was 27.69 billion a year earlier.
Analysts expect retail spending to remain weak for the first part of 2023. However, stimulus policies might fasten the rebound. Overall, Alibaba’s customer management revenue shaved off by 9% year on year. The latter is the company’s largest sales segment and tracks payments from various vendors.
Meanwhile, U.K. Labour Party aims to achieve fastest-growth in G7
In Britain, opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer spoke about his plans on Thursday. According to Starmer, the main goal is to make the British economy the fastest-growing one among the G7 countries. He promised such an outcome if his party won the elections.
Starmer stated that conservative governments have caused Britain’s problems to become deeper, more painful, and longer lasting over the last 13 years. However, he aims to reduce health inequalities, along with the crime rate, and focus on researching clean energy resources.
