What happened
Shares of several Chinese stocks trading on U.S. exchanges perked up Thursday as more positive inflation news came in and sentiment from Wall Street was generally positive.
Shares of the large Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group HOlding (BABA 1.76%) traded roughly 3.3% higher as of 1:32 p.m. ET today. Shares of another large Chinese e-commerce company, JD.com (JD 4.88%), traded more than 3% higher and shares of the digital freight platform Full Truck Alliance (YMM 0.48%) traded nearly 9% higher.
So what
The market continued to get good news on inflation today with the latest data from the producer price index (PPI) coming in lower in July than economists had expected. This follows data yesterday that showed the consumer price index (CPI) in July rose at a much smaller pace than economists had been expecting on a year-over-year basis. From June, the CPI remained unchanged.
Image source: Getty Images.
Investors use both the PPI and the CPI to measure inflation, so both data points were good news and showed that inflation may have peaked in July. If inflation continues to slow, the Federal Reserve may be able to slow the pace of interest rate hikes, which would benefit most tech stocks.
In other news, Bank of America analyst Eddie Leung put out a positive research note on Alibaba today that said the company's logistics division, which is called Cainiao, is continuing to make progress and now has a cross-border network of 200 partners in 30 countries, and 80 weekly flights across 50 ports with the potential to move more than 12 million packages.
"It enhances the cross-border business for merchants, consumer experience, and fulfillment & operating efficiency of the logistics eco-system including partners, which supports margin improvement," Leung wrote in his research note.
Cainiao made up roughly 6% of Alibaba's revenue in the second quarter, so it is not a huge driver of the business but isn't immaterial either. Leung has a buy rating on Alibaba and a price target of $156, which implies lots of upside from Alibaba's current $95.20 share price.
Alibaba recently reported earnings and revenue that beat estimates in the difficult quarter, although for the first time since the company launched, Alibaba reported flat quarterly revenue growth on a year-over-year basis. However, CEO Daniel Zhang said in a statement, "we saw signs of recovery across our businesses in June."
The positive signs of recovery and the earnings beat should bode well for JD.com, which also operates in the e-commerce space and in similar markets. The company is expected to report earnings on Aug. 23.
Now what
Alibaba is definitely one of the most well-known Chinese companies trading on a U.S. stock exchange, so good news for the company tends to move other Chinese stocks as well, especially JD.com, because they both operate in the e-commerce space.
Chinese stocks can be difficult to invest in because you are investing in a completely different economy and in stocks that face intense regulatory scrutiny. Rulings from the Chinese government can also swiftly change the outlook for these companies.
But of the group, Alibaba and JD.com are definitely two Chinese stocks to take a look at, and I like Full Truck Alliance's business as well.
