Express Delivery Enterprises Gear Up For '618' Shopping Festival In Lianyungang

Workers sort express packages at a distribution center on June 8, 2026, in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province of China. The express delivery industry is ramping up operations ahead of the upcoming “618” online shopping festival (VCG/Getty Images)

e-Commerce Convo

China e-commerce stocks sink as Beijing cracks down on “618” discount wars

China’s online retailers are experiencing a market drop after Beijing regulators cracked down on “618” promotional practices for what it called misleading advertising and unclear promotion rules.

Helena Cheng

Shares of Chinese e-commerce companies including JD.com and PDD Holdings are falling after Beijing regulators criticized major online platforms for aggressive discount campaigns ahead of China’s annual June 18 shopping festival, referred to as “618.” The drop follows a multiday sell-off triggered by fears of aggressive government-backed AI competition.

The Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation said in an official statement that it had summoned representatives from Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall, JD.com, PDD Holdings, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu to discuss a range of promotional practices tied to the country’s biggest midyear shopping event.

Among the issues cited were misleading advertising, unclear promotion rules, and insufficient disclosure surrounding the increasingly popular “100 billion yuan subsidy” campaigns tied to the 100 billion yuan ($15.4 billion) in central government spending intended to bolster domestic demand by subsidizing consumer purchases.

These campaigns are heavily marketed discount programs run by platforms such as Alibaba, JD.com, and PDD, and suggest platforms are collectively spending billions of yuan to lower prices on popular products. Regulators argued that several platforms failed to clearly disclose how much money was actually being contributed by the platforms themselves versus merchants.

The criticism comes as China’s e-commerce giants have spent the past two years engaged in an increasingly aggressive battle for market share. Companies have rolled out ever-larger subsidy programs, discounts, and coupons in an effort to attract consumers amid a sluggish economic recovery and weaker household spending.

This fresh e-commerce regulatory pain builds upon a market sell-off that began on Monday. Beijing was reportedly considering spending roughly $295 billion (2 trillion yuan) over the next five years building a nationwide network of AI-focused computing hubs. The plan would prioritize domestic technology suppliers and expand access to computing power across the country.

The report sparked concerns that a large-scale, state-backed build-out of computing capacity would crowd out commercial operators and trigger pricing pressure across the sector. Alibaba shares had already dropped around 4% over the past two trading sessions.

Saleah Blancaflor10m

US gas prices drop for the third week in a row to an average of $4.12

As we approach mid-June, the national average of US gas prices has been dropping for three weeks in a row, giving some relief to drivers traveling during a busy summer season. Since May 21, prices have fallen from $4.56 a gallon and are currently at $4.12 due to crude oil prices staying below $100 per barrel, according to the American Automobile Association.

US gas prices have a tendency to peak during this time of the year, and the uncertainty associated with the Strait of Hormuz has made them more volatile and unpredictable. While gas prices have remained around four-year highs, they’re still far from when they reached their highest, at $5 per gallon in June 2022.

GasBuddy’s Patrick De Haan posted on Wednesday that motorists today will be spending approximately $137 million less on gas than they did a month ago, but $385 million more than a year ago.

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

Prediction markets show traders currently pricing in an 81% chance that US gas prices will drop below $3.80 this year.

Pump Prices Fall for Third Straight Week

GasBuddy’s Patrick De Haan posted on Wednesday that motorists today will be spending approximately $137 million less on gas than they did a month ago, but $385 million more than a year ago.

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

Prediction markets show traders currently pricing in an 81% chance that US gas prices will drop below $3.80 this year.

Helena Cheng10m

Intel soars on double rating upgrade from BofA on CPU growth

Intel shares are surging following a double rating upgrade from Bank of America, which flipped its stance on the company from bearish to bullish.

Bank of America raised its rating on Intel to “buy” from “underperform,” boosting its 12-month price target to $135 a share from $96.

Shares of Intel rose 5.2% in recent trading, bringing the stock’s gains thus far in 2026 to more than 200%.

Analyst Vivek Arya noted “higher confidence in INTC’s opportunity to help address industry constraints in leading edge wafers/packaging” and its ability to capture a “much larger” agentic CPU market.

Bank of America heavily increased its estimate for the global server CPU total addressable market (TAM), predicting it will skyrocket to more than $170 billion by 2030. Analysts highlighted the rise of agentic AI as a critical tailwind that will require a massive volume of traditional x86 server chips.

Beyond standard chip architecture design, the report also shows confidence in Intel’s customized manufacturing services. BofA analysts now project that its server CPU revenue could top $40 billion by the end of the decade.

Momentum was built around Intel Foundry services as surging global AI demand continuously outpaces capacity. Just last week, Google reportedly placed an order with Intel to manufacture more than 3 million of its increasingly popular tensor processing unit chips in 2028. According to the report, Nvidia is also testing to see if Intel could manufacture its next-gen Feynman chips.

Max Knoblauch51m

Chinese EV makers sink to 52-week lows as regulators warn about price war

Several US-listed ADRs of major Chinese EV makers are trading at fresh lows, following reports of domestic sales continuing to stagnate and Chinese regulators warning the companies about their price war.

XPeng, BYD, and Li Auto each hit 52-week lows on Thursday morning.

According to CnEVPost, Chinese regulators summoned automakers suspected of taking part in “irrational” competition on Thursday, warning them to comply with price laws and regulations. China has struggled to crack down on a downward pricing trend among automakers jostling for market share for the better part of a year.

Earlier this week, BYD and Nio were added to the Pentagon’s “Chinese Military Companies” list. Both automakers refuted the designation and left legal action on the table. Nio appears to be seeing a modest stock price boost from the rollout of an update to its Onvo-branded L60 SUV.

Chinese regulators summon automakers over suspected 'irrational competition'

J. Edward Moreno3h

Marijuana company Trulieve begins trading on NYSE

Trulieve officially began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, becoming the first American plant-touching cannabis company to do so.

Major exchanges have historically not allowed companies that grow or sell weed in the US to list. Instead, they have traded on low-liquidity over-the-counter exchanges or Canadian exchanges.

Trulieve, which went public in 2018 with a Canadian Securities Exchange listing, is now trading on the NYSE under the ticker TRLV.

Following recent regulatory changes, Trulieve successfully applied to list on the NYSE after it spun off its recreational cannabis business. Other companies have indicated that they are gearing up to do the same.