Check out the latest iQiyi earnings call transcript.
What happened
Shares of iQiyi (IQ 3.53%) were up 11.1% as of 12 p.m. EST Friday despite a lack of company-specific news. Rather, with most major stock market indexes roaring higher today -- both the Dow and S&P 500 are up more than 3% as of this writing -- it appears the beaten-down Chinese video-streaming leader is rising with the tide.
IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
So what
It helps that the broader markets are climbing partly in response to news that the U.S. and China have agreed to hold trade talks early next week. If those talks go well, they'll bring hope that the two countries could resolve their long-running trade dispute, squashing concerns over political unrest and slowing global growth.
That's not to say there's nothing new with iQiyi. Yesterday morning, the company unveiled a new channel on its mobile app called "iQiyi Vertical Zone" dedicated to video content that can be watched in portrait mode on a smartphone -- a trend the company believes "will become increasingly prominent as greater numbers of users view video content on their mobile devices."
But however interesting, that launch hardly merits today's big boost.
Now what
We should also keep in mind that iQiyi shares were down more than 60% from their peak last June as of yesterday's close. It shouldn't be terribly surprising, then, to see the stock rebounding more than most when the market rallies.
For now, I think investors would do well to focus first on whether iQiyi's long-term story remains intact. As it stands, shareholders will receive their next update on that when iQiyi reports quarterly results in the coming weeks.
