Alibaba's Singles Day sets insane records, but the stock barely moves
11.11... Look at those 4 single numbers. They represent November 11th and casually embody China's extravagant annual spending bonanza holiday. "Singles Day" reminds us of treat yo' self day from Parks and Rec, except China's biggest ecommerce company, Alibaba, is intimately involved.
- $38B: That's how much Alibaba's online shopping platform and physical shopping partners sold within 24 hours.
- $5.8B: That's how much (little?) Amazon Prime Day brought in by comparison — Alibaba doubled that in just the 1st hour of Singles Day.
- Snacks Sidenote: Taylor Swift ironically sang "You Need to Calm Down" at Alibaba's Singles Day kickoff. She also performed at Amazon's Prime Day.
It's a trade-war-free celebration of Chinese economic might... Alibaba includes American brands like Nike, Estée Lauder, and even Kim Kardashian's KKW Beauty on the shop-fest. But an Alibaba exec's quote about Singles Day shows its symbolism for China:
- "We are helping Chinese consumers upgrade their lifestyles..." = China is an economic power and its citizens should celebrate by spending on Chinese platforms.
- "...while introducing new users to our digital economy from across China and around the world" = Other countries should recognize that China's tech, ecommerce, and retail are legit.
Stock prices move when unexpected things happen... Monday morning, Alibaba's stock was down despite news of the insane sales numbers (on Tuesday, it was still down from Friday's close). It's because investors expected Alibaba to set a record Singles Day.
- When stocks tend not to move: When something happens that was broadly expected to happen (like another Alibaba's Singles Day record).
- When stocks tend to move (sometimes by a lot): When something shocking happens at a company. Positive surprise headlines usually lead to stock price increases, and bad surprises tend to lead to stock price drops.