Markets
markets
Luke Kawa

Cost controls by Temu parent PDD Holdings fuel big Q2 profit beat

PDD Holdings, parent company of Temu, is known for offering low-cost consumer goods.

And its financial success in the second quarter came from applying that low-cost philosophy within the company.

While revenues of nearly 104 billion yuan ($14.5 billion) modestly exceeded expectations, adjusted diluted earnings per share of 22.07 yuan ($3.08) crushed estimates for 15.50 yuan. ADRs for the e-commerce company shot up as much as 11.6% in premarket trading but have given up all those gains to be down 2% as of 8:55 a.m. ET.

During the conference call, co-CEO Jiazhen Zhao warned that this was more of a bumper quarter for the bottom line.

“We do not believe this quarter’s profit levels are sustainable,” he warned, with other executives citing positive e-commerce seasonality as also juicing these results.

Over the course of the quarter, PDD Holdings had to grapple with the end of the “de minimis” exemption that allowed inexpensive shipments to come into the US duty-free.

“PDD’s 2Q non-GAAP operating profit beat expectations for the first time in four quarters, aided by lower-than-expected marketing expenses,” Bloomberg Intelligence senior industry analyst Catherine Lim wrote. “While margins are unlikely to return to prior highs, early signs suggest profitability may prove more resilient even as the company sustains investment and prioritizes long-term growth over short-term gains.”

More Markets

See all Markets
markets
Max Knoblauch

Roblox surges as a new brainrot game climbs the engagement charts

A game that has players grab “brainrots” like “Aura Farma” and “Rainbow 67” and run away with Tsunamis is climbing the Roblox engagement charts and getting the attention of Wall Street analysts.

Morgan Stanely on Tuesday lowered its price target for Roblox from $170 to $155, but said that the platform’s risks are fully discounted and that it should continue to benefit from hit games. On Monday, BMO Capital directly cited the emergence of one such hit: “Escape Tsunami For Brainrots!”

That title, a top five experience on the gaming platform according to engagement tracking service RoMonitor, averaged more than 40 million visits from Saturday to Monday. Less than a month old, the game has landed just in time, emerging after analysts last month warned that 2025 viral hits like “Grow a Garden” and “Steal a Brainrot” (yes, it’s different) are past their peaks.

markets
Luke Kawa

Nvidia stock shrugs off report that Chinese customers will only be able to buy H200 AI chips “under special circumstances”

The Information is reporting that Chinese customers won’t be able to get their hands on as many Nvidia H200 AI chips as they want.

Per the outlet, the “Chinese government this week told some tech companies it would only approve their purchases of Nvidia’s H200 AI chips under special circumstances, such as for university research and development labs,” citing two people with direct knowledge of the situation.

On December 8, US President Donald Trump said Nvidia would be allowed to sell these chips, the most advanced in its Hopper generation, to China. This was shortly followed by a report from the Financial Times that Chinese regulators were “discussing ways to permit limited access to the H200,” as the world’s second-largest economy has been keen on boosting its domestic chip industry. Last week, Bloomberg reported that “Chinese officials are preparing to allow local companies to buy the component from Nvidia for select commercial use,” with imports beginning “as soon as this quarter.”

Call it information fatigue, because the market doesn’t seem to care about this latest report, with shares making fresh highs for the day not even 10 minutes after this news hit the wires. Or perhaps when it comes to AI development, it’s not hard to come up with “special circumstances” to justify access to powerful chips.

The report adds that Chinese officials have told companies to only buy these chips if “necessary” — without really defining what “necessary” means.

It’s not the first time traders shrugged off reporting from The Information on Nvidia. Shares finished up 1% on January 7, the day the outlet reported that Beijing was suspending purchases of the H200 pending a decision on what the import restrictions would be.

600✈️ < 793✈️
Max Knoblauch

Boeing shares are up more than 2% on Tuesday after the plane maker reported 160 commercial jet deliveries in the fourth quarter, sending its full-year total to 600. That’s a 72% improvement from the company’s disastrous 2024, when it delivered 348 jets amid safety probes and a lengthy strike.

As expected, Boeing was out-delivered by its European rival Airbus for the seventh year in a row. Airbus reported 793 annual commercial handoffs for the year.

Boeing’s 193-jet delivery gap on the year improves on its performance vs. Airbus in 2023, when it delivered 207 fewer jets than its chief competitor.

markets
Matt Phillips

Intel jumps to new 52-week high on upgrade

Intel jumped early Tuesday, hitting a 52-week high soon after the open, as Keybanc analysts upgraded the stock to “overweight” and put an above-consensus $60 price target on the shares, suggesting an upside of 25%.

They also upgraded Advanced Micro Devices to “overweight” and put a $270 target on the shares, a ~23% premium from where they’re trading.

Intel Stock Gains. Why the Chip Company and AMD Got Upgrades.

Intel Stock Gains. Why the Chip Company and AMD Got Upgrades.
markets
Claire Yubin Oh

Companies are still facing ransom demands from Oracle’s business software data breach, the WSJ reports

A hack that stole sensitive data in Oracle’s business software — which may have started as early as last July, but wasn’t disclosed by the company until October — is still generating ransom demands, per reporting by The Wall Street Journal.

The number of affected organizations seems to be rising, with executives at Harvard University, Canon USA, Mazda, American Airlines unit Envoy Air, and Logitech all receiving emails demanding millions in exchange for the release of data in recent months.

An online extortion group known as Cl0p had been identified as the source of the breach on Oracle’s E-Business Suite, with the hackers reportedly leveraging a security flaw that did not need any fake or stolen sign-in credentials, and leaving responsible teams “zero-days” to fix the vulnerability. By the time Oracle issued software patches in October to prevent further attacks, more than 100 companies were estimated to be affected by the data breach, per the WSJ.

Oracle Hack Still Generating Ransom Demands

The number of affected organizations seems to be rising, with executives at Harvard University, Canon USA, Mazda, American Airlines unit Envoy Air, and Logitech all receiving emails demanding millions in exchange for the release of data in recent months.

An online extortion group known as Cl0p had been identified as the source of the breach on Oracle’s E-Business Suite, with the hackers reportedly leveraging a security flaw that did not need any fake or stolen sign-in credentials, and leaving responsible teams “zero-days” to fix the vulnerability. By the time Oracle issued software patches in October to prevent further attacks, more than 100 companies were estimated to be affected by the data breach, per the WSJ.

Latest Stories

Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, or Robinhood Money, LLC.
©2026 Sherwood Media, LLC