Alibaba, Japan PMI, Australia PMI, Japan trade

Shares of Chinese tech giant Alibaba surged almost 6% after founder Jack Ma reportedly bought $50 million worth of its Hong Kong stock in the fourth quarter.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the New York Times reported that along with Ma, Alibaba chairman Joe Tsai also bought $151 million worth of Alibaba’s U.S.-traded shares in the fourth quarter via his Blue Pool Management family investment vehicle.

According to a Hong Kong exchange filing on Jan. 2, Alibaba bought back $9.5 billion of its shares in Hong Kong over 2023, resulting in a reduction of about 3.3% of its shares.

Japan’s private sector activity in January expanded at its fastest pace since September, according to flash data from the au Jibun bank.

Japan’s composite purchasing managers index came in at 51.1, up from 50.0 in December. The bank said the increase was led by service providers, with the service sector PMI accelerating to 52.7 from 51.5.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion and a reading under 50 suggests a contraction.

Manufacturing PMI registered a smaller contraction in January, coming in at 47.4 from 46.8.

— Lim Hui Jie

Japan’s exports grew 9.8% year-on-year in December, reversing from a 0.2% fall in the previous month and beating expectations of a 9.1% rise from economists polled by Reuters.

Imports to the world’s third-largest economy fell 6.8% year-on-year in December, a smaller contraction compared with November’s 11.9% decline, but steeper than the 5.3% expected from the Reuters poll.

As such, Japan’s trade balance for December stood at a $62.1 billion surplus, compared with a $780.4 billion deficit in November.

For the whole of 2023, Japan’s total exports climbed 2.8% year-on-year to 100.89 trillion yen, while imports fell 7% in the same period to 110.17 trillion yen.

— Lim Hui Jie

Australia’s factory activity expanded for the first time in 11 months, according to flash data from Juno Bank.

The country’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index for January came in at 50.3, up from December’s figure of 47.6.

Service sector activity contracted at a slower pace, with the services PMI at 47.9 compared with December’s 47.1.

Overall, business activity in Australia also saw a slower contraction, with the composite PMI at 48.1 against 46.9 in December.

A PMI reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below 50 signals contraction.

— Lim Hui Jie

A Switzerland-listed car parts manufacturer’s share price could increase by over 70% in the next year, according to Vontobel.

The company makes lightweight auto components for car makers such as BMW, Ford, Renault, Mercedes, GM and Volvo.

Vontobel is forecasting a rise in profit margins and free cash flow at the company.

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— Ganesh Rao

The Dow fell more than 100 points in Tuesday’s session as investors parsed earnings reports from a handful of index members.

3M dragged on the blue-chip average with a drop of more than 11%, on track for its third biggest loss in history and worst day since April 2019. The selloff came after issuing disappointing full-year and first-quarter guidance.

Johnson & Johnson also pulled the index down, sliding 1.5% despite beating Wall Street forecasts on both lines in the fourth quarter.

But losses were mitigated by rallies on the back of other members’ reports. Verizon led the index higher with a gain of more than 5% following a better-than-expected report. Procter & Gamble followed, up more than 4% as investors keyed in on earnings per share that came in better than analysts anticipated.

Electric vehicle automakers like Tesla and BYD have been making headlines over the last few weeks – but Goldman Sachs is now keeping watch on a corner of the market.

That is the battery sector – which includes lithium, nickel and electrolyte batteries that are key inputs in the manufacture of EVs.

The investment bank noted that the sector – and stocks – look attractive amid higher adoption of EVs and a reduction in battery prices.

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— Amala Balakrishner

These are some of the stocks moving the most during Tuesday’s session:

Read the full list of stocks on the move here.

— Samantha Subin

Oil prices were largely flat Tuesday as traders tried to decipher mixed signals in the Middle East and threats to crude supplies.

The West Texas Intermediate contract for March rose 21 cents, or .28%, to trade at $74.97 a barrel on Tuesday, while the Brent crude contract rose 5 cents, or .06%, to trade at $80.11. U.S. crude was down more than 2% earlier in the trading session.

Israel has proposed a two-month pause of fighting in Gaza in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages, according to NBC News. But Hamas has rejected the offer, according the Associated Press.

Oil prices had risen about 2% on Monday on potential threats to crude supplies. Ukrainian drones reportedly struck a major Russian fuel terminal on the Baltic Sea over the weekend, and the U.S. and Britain launched renewed airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen on Monday.

Oil output in the U.S. has also taken a hit from the cold weather, with production in North Dakota down about 400,000 barrels per day as of Friday. The outage in the U.S. is tempered by Libya restarting production at the Sharara oilfield, which as a capacity of 300,000 barrels per day.

— Spencer Kimball