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Claire Yubin Oh1h

Chinese stocks drop as Beijing regulators launch crackdown on illegal cross-border securities activities

Beijing’s top securities watchdog launched a crackdown against illegal cross-border trading and announced that it will penalize several popular online brokerages on Friday, bringing many Chinese ADRs lower in premarket trading, as the affected brokers’ clients will now only be allowed to sell shares, not buy.

Eight governmental agencies, including the China Securities Regulatory Commission, issued a joint statement on their comprehensive two-year plan to combat illegal cross-border trading after mainland markets closed on Friday, per Bloomberg.

The securities regulator separately followed with plans to impose penalties on online brokerages Tiger Brokers, Futu Holdings, and Longbridge Securities for operating in domestic markets without a license, with plans to confiscate all “illegal gains” from these firms. Hong Kong’s markets regulator also said that it had ordered all licensed corporations to address money laundering risks and ensure additional measures for Mainland Chinese investors.

US-listed shares of Futu and Up Fintech, which owns Tiger, sank as much as 40% on the news. Shares of other Chinese ADRs, including Big Tech names Baidu, Alibaba, and Temu owner PDD Holdings, also dipped following the announcement.

In the joint statement, the agencies encouraged investors to use legal channels such as Stock Connect, Wealth Management Connect, and QDII programs — many of which allow only Hong Kong-listed products or are subject to a quota, per the Financial Times. Interactive Brokers, which allows foreign investors to trade Chinese equities, ticked up modestly in early trading on Friday.

Chinese companies, keen to expand their investor base, have increasingly been adding listings in New York, London, and Hong Kong.

In the joint statement, the agencies encouraged investors to use legal channels such as Stock Connect, Wealth Management Connect, and QDII programs — many of which allow only Hong Kong-listed products or are subject to a quota, per the Financial Times. Interactive Brokers, which allows foreign investors to trade Chinese equities, ticked up modestly in early trading on Friday.

Chinese companies, keen to expand their investor base, have increasingly been adding listings in New York, London, and Hong Kong.

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The D-Wave 2X quantum system, is operated at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility's Quantum Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., as seen on Tuesday December 8, 2015.

Quantum computing CEOs hope “validating” government backing proves their technology is no longer speculative

The government funding is a push to boost the foundational elements of quantum computing to get the industry ready for prime time. The CEOs of Infleqtion and D-Wave give us their thoughts.

markets

Helena Cheng48m

Ross Stores surges as Q1 results beat expectations, full-year guidance raised

Ross shares are rising after the company delivered strong Q1 results, with sales topping Wall Street’s projections.

The stock soared 6.3% just after the open.

Key numbers:

Earnings per share of $2.02 vs. $1.47 year over year (estimate: $1.72).
Sales of $6.01 billion, up 21% year over year (estimate: $5.61 billion).
Comparable sales growth of 17% (estimate: 8.58%).

CEO Jim Conroy attributed the results to better traffic in stores. “Customer traffic was the primary driver of the strong sales trend as compelling merchandise assortments, higher customer acquisition and engagement from our ongoing marketing initiatives, and an improved in‑store experience are resonating with shoppers.”

The company also noted that transaction volume grew across all key demographics, including “income levels, ethnicities, and age groups, including younger customers.” Sales were also likely buoyed by standard seasonal tailwinds, including consumer spending from tax refunds.

Backed by the strong quarter, the company lifted its full-year targets. Ross now projects same-store sales growth of 6% to 7%, up from the prior forecast of 3% to 4%, topping Wall Street’s estimate of 4.64%. It boosted its annual EPS guidance to a range of $7.50 to $7.74, versus the prior outlook of $7.02 to $7.36.

Ross Stores has been one of the retail sector’s standout performers this year, rising around 20% year to date as of Thursday’s close.

markets

Max Knoblauch52m

Imax surges on report it’s approached entertainment companies for a sale

Imax is on pace for its best trading day since 2021 following a Wall Street Journal report that it’s exploring a sale. Shares are up more than 15% in premarket trading on Friday.

The premium screen company has reportedly approached entertainment companies for a deal, though talks are early and may not come to fruition. Imax has been boosted in recent years by its higher ticket prices — a K-shaped trend in movie theaters — and last year accounted for more than 5% of domestic box office sales.

Theatrical release windows have become a large debate in Hollywood this year, amid the bidding war between Paramount and Netflix for Warner Bros. Discovery. It’s unclear if an entertainment buyer would favor its own films for Imax over a rival’s.

In the first quarter, Imax booked $81.4 million in sales, beating Wall Street expectations but down about 6.5% from last year, when China’s “Ne Zha 2” smashed records.

markets

AMD rises as CEO forecasts massive 5-year CPU demand growth

AMD’s shares are rising in premarket trading after CEO Lisa Su delivered an optimistic demand forecast, predicting that the global market for CPUs will grow by more than 35% annually over the next five years, according to Nikkei Asia.

“About six months ago or 12 months ago, nobody was talking about CPU shortages,” Su said at an event in Taipei. “But as [AI] inferencing and agentic AI have really started to ramp up, the CPU market [will] continue to grow very much. Over the next five years, we see the CPU market growing at over 35% each year, and this is an area where we’re seeing very strong demand.”

The comments come as the computing demands of AI agents (in particular, the so-called “orchestration” of tasks) increase the need for CPUs in running models.

AMD also said this week it plans to invest more than $10 billion into Taiwan’s AI ecosystem alongside supply chain partners as it ramps production capacity for next-generation AI infrastructure. This investment will support the manufacturing ramp of AMD’s sixth-generation EPYC CPUs, code-named “Venice.”

Su added that CPU supply is now “tight” as inference demand accelerates, while bottlenecks are emerging across memory, power availability, and advanced packaging.

AMD shares have climbed sharply this year amid broader enthusiasm around AI infrastructure spending. The stock has risen more than 100% year to date. During AMD’s last earnings call, management told investors it now sees the server CPU total addressable market reaching $120 billion or more by 2030, according to Yahoo Finance.

markets

Zoom surges after beating estimates and raising forecasts

Zoom is up around 8% in premarket trading after posting earnings Thursday that beat analysts’ expectations and raising its fiscal-year guidance.

For its Q1 FY 2027, the video communications platform reported:

Adjusted earnings per share of $1.55, versus analysts’ $1.42.
Revenue of $1.24 billion, up 5.5% from a year earlier and above the consensus estimate of $1.22 billion.
Guidance for 2027 fiscal-year revenue of $5.08 billion to $5.09 billion, up from its earlier forecast of $5.07 billion to $5.08 billion. Zoom now expects annual adjusted ‌EPS to be between $5.96 and $6.00, up from its prior forecast of $5.77 to $5.81.

The company reported strong enterprise sales growth as well as strong demand for its AI products, including AI Companion and My Notes.

The company’s $51 million investment in Anthropic also appears to be paying off. Zoom reported a $152 million gain on strategic investments, which are currently worth $1.9 billion. Last quarter the company disclosed that the “most significant portion” of its strategic investment assets comes from Anthropic, whose valuation has skyrocketed.

Today, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives raised his Zoom price target to $120 from $110, “reflecting greater confidence in the ZM AI story that continues gaining momentum.”

While the stock has increased 20% year to date, it’s still far off its pandemic-era highs.

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