What happened
Shares of Alibaba Group (BABA 2.44%) gained 13.1% in November of 2018, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The Chinese e-commerce giant set a new single-day sales record and continued to rise as the cumbersome trade tensions between Beijing and Washington appeared to relax a bit.
So what
The shopping event known as Singles Day, which falls on Nov. 11 and is the Chinese equivalent to our Black Friday retail frenzy, saw Alibaba take orders for $30.7 billion in a 24-hour period. It was the largest order volume in Alibaba's or that event's history, 27% above the numbers seen a year earlier. Share prices rose 6% over the next two days.
Image source: Alibaba.
The specter of trade tensions and cross-border tariffs on goods moving between China and the U.S. has been weighing on Alibaba's stock in recent months, sending share prices as much as 39% below June's all-time highs. Trump started to talk about a trade truce near the end of November, with a meeting with his Chinese counterpart at the G-20 summit scheduled for that weekend. Stock markets around the world reacted positively to that development, and Alibaba's shares rose even faster to end the month.
Now what
A 90-day truce was indeed announced at the G-20 confab, but the resulting gains quickly evaporated since a pause in tariff increases falls far short of an actual end to the conflict. Moreover, a high-profile Chinese business leader was recently arrested in Canada and might end up extradited to the U.S., accused of violating economic sanctions on Iran.
So the trade war rolls on, albeit with a temporary pause in boosted tariff rates. We Alibaba investors would love to see an end to this conflict, because a lot of Alibaba's goods actually end up on American soil.
