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On May 13th, Alibaba announced at its earnings conference that Taobao Flash Sale's overall order volume for the first quarter of this year was 2.7 times that of the same period last year, with non-food retail orders reaching 3 times that of last year. The company is confident of achieving positive UE (Unified Product) before the end of the new fiscal year. Last April, Alibaba launched its food delivery campaign. This means that after a year of competition, Taobao Flash Sale's scale is nearly three times that of a year ago.

On May 13th, Tencent executives stated in a conference call following the release of the first-quarter financial report that the company's capital expenditures will increase going forward, and more domestically produced chips will be put into use in the second half of this year. Tencent Cloud has consistently lacked sufficient GPU resources, making it difficult to meet all the needs of external customers, which has impacted revenue generation and market share. The Tencent executives stated that investments in AI include both short-term and long-term investments, and the company will not manage each related product on a quarterly basis, but rather review it based on the asset portfolio and lifecycle.

May 13th - The strong performance of the semiconductor sector indicates the market's increasing reliance on this high-growth sector. As of Monday, 19 semiconductor and semiconductor equipment stocks accounted for 18% of the S&P 500. According to O'Rourke, chief market strategist at Jones Trading, as of Monday, semiconductor and memory stocks accounted for 70% of the $5.1 trillion in new market capitalization added to the S&P 500 by 2026. Meanwhile, market observers point to underlying signs of weakness. According to data from Bespoke Investment Group, although the S&P 500 hit a record high earlier this week, only slightly more than half of the stocks in the index are trading above their 50-day moving average. O'Rourke stated that the semiconductor sector "currently has such a large weighting in the S&P 500 that any pullback or disappointing performance poses a risk to the broader market."

May 13th - The global energy price shock triggered by the US-Israel conflict with Iran may force the Turkish central bank to raise its inflation forecast, further increasing pressure on the country to curb price increases. Turkish central bank governor Fatih Callahan will release his quarterly monetary policy report on Thursday. Analysts widely expect the central bank to raise its year-end inflation target and forecast range. The current target is 16%, with a forecast range of 15% to 21%. Hande Sekergi, chief economist at Is Asset Management, stated, "Although the central bank has stated it will not adjust its interim targets unless there are extreme circumstances, the global price shock and escalating supply issues are likely to prompt it to raise its year-end inflation target."

May 13th - According to CNBC, the US Producer Price Index (PPI) saw its largest monthly increase in over three years in April, driven by continued pressure from upstream costs, indicating renewed inflationary pressures. Data released Wednesday by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the seasonally adjusted Producer Price Index (PPI) rose 1.4% month-over-month in April, far exceeding the 0.5% forecast in a Dow Jones survey and also higher than the revised 0.7% in March. This is the largest monthly increase since March 2022. Year-over-year, the PPI rose 6% in April, the highest level since December 2022. Excluding food and energy, the core PPI rose 1% month-over-month, higher than the expected 0.4%. Further excluding food, energy, and trade services, the PPI rose 0.6% month-over-month. Similar to the surge in CPI data released on Tuesday, energy prices were also the fundamental reason for the unexpectedly large increase in the April PPI data. The Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that about three-quarters of the increase in commodity prices in the PPI was driven by final demand for energy, which rose 7.8% that month. More than 40% of that increase could be attributed to a 15.6% surge in gasoline prices. That month, due to the impact of the Iran-Iraq War on the entire energy sector, U.S. gasoline prices had already well exceeded $4 per gallon.

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Alibaba (BABA.N) executives: The goal is to maintain above-average growth to gain a larger market share and consolidate its leading position in the cloud computing field.

Alibaba (BABA.N) executives: We expect Alibaba Cloud's gross margin to improve significantly in the next 1-2 quarters.

Alibaba (BABA.N) executives: The main goal of cloud computing is to gain market share and consolidate market advantages, while profits remain secondary.

ECB Governing Council member Koch said the June meeting will decide between raising interest rates and keeping them unchanged.

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Brazilian Deputy Finance Minister Galipolo: There is a discrepancy between official data and public perception.

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