China’s Singles Day has been the main focus of Asian traders. Sales reached $12 billion dollars by midday, suggesting that Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) is poised to renew its sales record by the end of the day.
Ali Baba managed to design the world’s largest retail-trading day, bringing together millions of buyers and sellers in a terrifically mediatized environment. Both domestic and foreign companies set their strategies months ahead of this day. Discounts, promotions, special offers are planned months ahead. On the flip side of the market, consumers investigate goods they pursue to buy, list the prices, seek promotions and race to click.
This means that Singles Day is not a single-day event. It is rather the monetization of months of work.
Although a single-day statistics are too restrictive to drive wide-ranging conclusions on the health of the Chinese economy, the tremendous retail activity at the double eleven hints at the magnificent potential in China’s domestic market.
As Ali Baba’s Chairman Jack Ma once said, the potential in China is hidden inside. The current slowdown in China’s gross domestic product growth could not only be compensated by solid retail consumption, but also be improved.
The e-commerce is clearly a winning hand for companies willing to jump on the back of a bull. The fast and efficient internet development across the country implies that the most glorious times could well be ahead.
The Single’s Day performance unfortunately failed to cheer up the Hang Seng Index (-1.44%) and Shanghai Composite (0.78%), which were driven by fears that:
· The Federal Reserve (Fed) would steepen its rate normalization path following the Trump victory
· The protectionist measures promised by the US’ new president would penalize Chinese imports by increasing import taxes up to 45%.
FTSE 100 stocks opened flat at this week’s last day of trading. Energy stocks and gold miners underperformed as financials lead gains on rising yields post the Trump victory.
Fresnillo (LON:FRES) (-3.24%), Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) (-3.52%)
Barclays (LON:BARC) (+1.67%), Prudential (LON:PRU) (+1.08%) Lloyds (LON:LLOY) (+0.62%), HSBC (NYSE:HSBC) (+0.29%)
Overseas, the US bank holiday will give the markets a break after a wild trading week. US consumer confidence will be in USD traders’ focus.