Overnight and This Morning | The three major indexes closed down collectively, Google hit a new high, most popular Chinese stocks rose, and Alibaba surged nearly 13% after earnings.

Summary:

• US stocks closed lower: all three major indexes fell, Google hit another record high, most popular Chinese concept stocks rose, Alibaba surged nearly 13% after earnings;

• The US appeals court ruled that most of Trump's global tariffs are illegal, but they remain in effect while the lawsuit is unresolved;

• The US July core PCE price index rose year-on-year to 2.9%, in line with expectations, and the impact of tariffs remains controllable;

• Trump escalates pressure on the Federal Reserve: FHFA director files criminal referral over Cook's third mortgage;

• Alibaba surged nearly 13% after earnings, cloud business revenue increased by 26%, Taobao Flash Sale boosted monthly active users by 25%, and flash sales and instant retail are expected to bring 1 trillion yuan in new transactions over the next three years;

• Nvidia fell more than 3% and faces short-term pressure, but Goldman Sachs believes "Nvidia has huge upside potential in 2026";

• SnowFlake transforms into an "AI data platform," believes that "no data, no AI" for enterprise clients, and NRR rebounded for the first time after 13 consecutive quarters of decline.

Overseas Markets

US stocks closed: all three major indexes fell, Google hit another record high, most popular Chinese concept stocks rose, Alibaba surged nearly 13% after earnings

On Friday (August 30), all three major US stock indexes closed lower. The Nasdaq fell 1.15%, down 0.19% for the week; the S&P 500 index fell 0.64%, down 0.1% for the week; the Dow Jones fell 0.2%, down 0.19% for the week.

[Performance of Popular Stocks] Most large technology stocks fell. Tesla, Nvidia, and AMD fell more than 3%, Intel fell more than 2%, Amazon, Meta, and Netflix fell more than 1%, and Microsoft and Apple fell slightly. Google rose slightly, hitting another record high. According to sources, Google's parent company Alphabet will face a moderate antitrust fine from the EU in the coming weeks due to alleged anti-competitive behavior in its advertising technology business.

[Chinese Concept Stocks] Most popular Chinese concept stocks rose. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index closed up 1.55%, down 0.1% for the week, up 6.03% in August, recording four consecutive monthly gains. Alibaba rose nearly 13%, marking its best single-day performance since March 2023. Company executives said that over the past four quarters, more than 100 billions yuan has been invested in AI infrastructure and AI product development.

[European Stocks] The German DAX30 index fell 0.54%, the UK FTSE 100 index fell 0.32%, the French CAC40 index fell 0.76%, the Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 0.86%, the Spanish IBEX35 index fell 0.94%, and the Italian FTSE MIB index fell 0.59%.

[Precious Metals] At the close in New York, spot gold rose 0.90% to $3,447.96/ounce, COMEX gold futures rose 1.19% to $3,515.50/ounce, up 5.01% in August. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index closed up 2.83% at 249.08 points, up 21.97% in August, continuing to rise amid volatility.

[Crude Oil] WTI October crude oil futures closed down $0.59, a drop of more than 0.91%, at $64.01/barrel, down more than 6.14% in August. Brent October crude oil futures closed down $0.50, a drop of nearly 0.73%, at $68.12/barrel, down more than 4.99% in August.

International Macroeconomics

US appeals court ruled that most of Trump's global tariffs are illegal, but they remain in effect while the lawsuit is unresolved

The US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday upheld the earlier ruling of the International Trade Court that Trump wrongly invoked emergency powers to impose tariffs. However, the appeals court judges remanded the case to the lower court to decide whether the ruling applies to all parties affected by the tariffs or only to the parties in this case. Trump stated that all tariffs remain in effect! The appeals court wrongly said the tariffs should be canceled. If these tariffs disappear, it would be a complete disaster for the country.

US July core PCE price index rose year-on-year to 2.9%, in line with expectations, and the impact of tariffs remains controllable

The US July core PCE price index rose year-on-year to 2.9%, in line with expectations. The reason for this inflation rebound is the rise in service costs, the largest increase since February. This includes an increase in portfolio management fees, reflecting months of stock market gains, and higher costs for entertainment services, including live sports broadcasts and entertainment.

Trump escalates pressure on the Federal Reserve: FHFA director files criminal referral over Cook's third mortgage

FHFA Director Sandra Thompson has reported Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook to the Department of Justice for the second time, alleging that she misrepresented the situation of a property in Cambridge, Massachusetts, while serving as a Fed governor, thus providing Trump with grounds for "legitimate dismissal" of Cook. Previously, it was believed that Trump did not have the authority to dismiss Cook "for cause" because the first criminal referral by Thompson involved conduct before Cook joined the Fed. This time, the accusation points directly to misconduct during her tenure, effectively filling the legal gap for Trump.

Company News

Alibaba surged nearly 13% after earnings, cloud business revenue increased by 26%, Taobao Flash Sale boosted monthly active users by 25%, and flash sales and instant retail are expected to bring 1 trillion yuan in new transactions over the next three years

Alibaba's Q2 revenue grew by 2%, and net profit surged 76% to 42.4 billions yuan. In the first half of 2025, instant retail business revenue increased by 12% year-on-year, Alibaba Cloud revenue increased by 26% year-on-year, and AI-related product revenue achieved triple-digit year-on-year growth for eight consecutive quarters. Capital expenditure soared from about 11.9 billions yuan in the same period last year to about 38.7 billions yuan this quarter.

During the earnings call, management revealed that Taobao Flash Sale, launched just four months ago, has surpassed 300 million monthly active users, a 200% increase from before April, and the first phase target was exceeded. The company has prepared "backup plans" for global AI chip supply and policy changes, establishing a diversified supply chain reserve through cooperation with different partners to ensure that investment plans can proceed as scheduled. Jiang Fan spoke for the first time about the Taobao Flash Sale strategy, stating that in the next three years, one million brand stores will join, achieving an incremental transaction volume of 1 trillion yuan.

Nvidia fell more than 3% and faces short-term pressure, but Goldman Sachs believes "Nvidia has huge upside potential in 2026"

Goldman Sachs believes "Nvidia has huge upside potential in 2026" and gives three main reasons. First, Nvidia's next-generation platform Rubin is expected to be mass-produced in mid-2026, which is expected to bring significant performance leaps; second, the company's customer base continues to diversify, with sovereign customer revenue expected to double in 2025; finally, strong demand from hyperscale data centers and non-traditional customers will jointly drive Nvidia's explosive growth in 2026.

SnowFlake transforms into an "AI data platform," believes that "no data, no AI" for enterprise clients, and NRR rebounded for the first time after 13 consecutive quarters of decline

Thanks to robust customer expansion, Snowflake's NRR indicator recorded quarter-on-quarter growth for the first time in 13 quarters, rising slightly from 124% to 125%. Morgan Stanley said that this growth is not only due to customers migrating to the cloud, but more importantly, enterprises have realized that without a modern data foundation, their AI ambitions cannot be achieved. AI influenced 50% of new customer acquisitions in the second quarter.