China Financial News

Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com fell as much as 13% to a record low on Friday after several banks and brokers cut price targets and revenue growth forecasts for the firm, citing a weaker-than-expected recovery in consumer spending. The brokerages and banks including Citi, Daiwa and Jefferies, which issued notes to clients on Thursday and Friday with the revised estimates. JD.com, which is listed in Hong Kong and the United States, is expected to report quarterly financial data in mid-November following China's main online shopping festival, Singles' Day. Shares in JD.com, which is also China's largest home appliance retailer, closed at their lowest level since their June 2020 debut. A debt crisis in the key property sector has contributed to slowing China's economic growth after the pandemic, while many Chinese have cut back on spending due to concerns over the economy and job security, hurting the retail sector. In March, JD.com warned it would take time to rebuild consumer confidence post-pandemic as it missed fourth-quarter revenue forecasts. Citi Research lowered its revenue assumption for JD.com by 3.4% and 4.3% for the third and fourth quarter, saying that it now estimates 0.8% and 1.3% growth respectively. The bank's analysts cited a «relatively muted consumption trend, high base, intense competition, and on-going impact from restructuring adjustment» for the change in estimates. Nomura said JD.com had yet to see any meaningful improvement in retail since the third quarter, adding that the company had also missed on any positives from the stimulus policies China has rolled out since September to rescue the property market. JD.com said it had no comment on the analyst revisions and its share price

BEIJING — Self-driving air taxis are one step closer to reality in China.

Bloomberg reported. In the notifications, the company informed that the job reductions will begin around mid-December. The San Diego-based company is required to make the filings under California rules.

An official from China's foreign exchange regulatory body has suggested the potential use of "programmable features" within China's Central Bank-Backed Digital Currency (CBDC) to bolster the effectiveness of monetary policy tools. 

Americans are uneasy as war returns to another part of the world, and Washington is slow to confront the growing danger. Priority No. 1 is an all-out national effort to expand U.S.

HSBC Holdings Plc. “The numbers don’t exactly add up,” economists Frederic Neumann and Justin Feng wrote in a report Friday.

(Exciting news! Mint is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest financial insights! Click here!) Days after its debut in New York, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) had launched an investigation into Didi, citing a need to protect national security and the public interest. The company was fined $1.2 billion in July 2022 over data-security breaches and was banned by Chinese regulators from taking on new users and its app not available from mid-2021 until January 2023, the report said.

TikTok and Montana faced off in federal court on Thursday in a case filed by the video sharing app and five Montana content creators who want the court to temporarily block the state's ban on the platform before it takes effect Jan. 1. Attorneys for TikTok and the content creators argued that the state has gone «completely overboard» in trying to regulate TikTok and is essentially trying to implement its own foreign policy over unproven concerns that TikTok might share user data with the Chinese government.

BEIJING — China reported a smaller-than-expected decline in exports in September from a year ago, while imports missed, according to customs data released Friday.

The United States Space Force has temporarily banned its staff from using generative artificial tools while on duty to protect government data, according to reports.

A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Ankur Banerjee

By Katya Golubkova and Andrew Hayley

By Joe Cash and Liangping Gao

(Reuters) — China's exports and imports shrank at a slower pace for a second month in September, customs data showed on Friday, adding to the recent signs of a gradual stabilisation in the world's second-biggest economy thanks to a raft of policy support measures.

HCL Technologies share price rallied over 2% in the early trade on Friday after the company reported its earnings for the second quarter of FY24. HCL Technologies share price rose as much as 2.77% to ₹1,258.00 apiece on the BSE.HCL Technologies, the third largest IT services company in India, reported 8.55% QoQ growth in Q2FY24 net profit at ₹3,833 crore.

By Ankur Banerjee

(Reuters) — China is considering creating a state-backed stabilization fund to shore up confidence in its equity markets, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.

Oil prices rose on Friday after the U.S. tightened its sanctions programme against Russian crude exports, raising supply concerns in an already tight market, and global inventories are forecast to decline through the fourth quarter. Brent futures rose 36 cents, or 0.4%, to $86.36 per barrel and U.S.

By Brigid Riley

TAIPEI (Reuters) — Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC has received from the United States a waiver extension to supply U.S. chip equipment to the company's factories in China, Taiwan Economy Minister Wang Mei-hua said on Friday.

BEIJING (Reuters) — China's consumer prices were flat in September, while factory-gate prices shrank at slower pace, official data showed on Friday, indicating deflationary pressures persist in the economy.