🚀 Alibaba's back – and so is Jack Ma

What’s going on here?

Alibaba whet investors’ appetites, emerging from a period of scarcity with mouth-watering sales and an AI play spicier than a Sichuan hotpot.

What does this mean?

Alibaba pulled in 8% more revenue last quarter than a year earlier – the biggest uptick in a year. And while investors love to see money coming in, they were even happier to hear of Alibaba’s plans to spend its dough. The firm has pledged to “aggressively invest” in AI, and funnel more cash into the tech over the next three years than it did in the previous decade. Hooked on the AI dream, investors sent the stock up 15% after the news.

Why should I care?

For markets: China’s begging for attention.

Tired of playing the shrinking violet, China’s tech sector has been yanking the spotlight away from America’s heavy-hitting stocks. DeepSeek challenged OpenAI’s dominance, producing tools that seem just as smart but less expensive. Alibaba’s stuffing cash into tech development, eager to keep pace with the biggest stateside spenders. And after years of forcing strict regulation onto the industry, the Chinese government is making peace with the country’s tech giants. In fact, the president recently welcomed Alibaba’s cofounder to a business summit. That’s huge: the prominent businessman has stayed out of the public eye since he criticized China's financial sector some four years ago.

The bigger picture: Watch out for the feeding frenzy.

Famed investor Ryan Cohen has built up a $1 billion stake in Alibaba, confident about the firm’s long-term potential in the AI space. But here’s the thing: Cohen is best known for igniting the legendary GameStop rally, earning him the moniker of “meme king”. He has a league of retail investors – many of whom can be found lurking the forums of a certain social network – eager to follow his every move. And if they start piling into Alibaba’s stock, those shares could suddenly become a lot more volatile.

What’s going on here?

After Honda ditched its rescue mission, Japanese carmaker Nissan was left on the shelf – but Tesla could ride in on a white, uh, Cybertruck to save the damsel in distress.

What does this mean?

Nissan’s running too many factories and selling too few cars. Desperate for a reset, the carmaker announced a restructuring plan in November, planning to cut 9,000 jobs and 20% of its production. But, unconvinced that the move would be enough, Moody’s still downgraded Nissan to a “junk” credit rating on Friday – essentially saying there’s a high risk that it falls behind on its debts.

Well, one carmaker’s trash is another’s treasure. An ex-Tesla board member is pushing the EV maker to invest in the struggling firm. See, Nissan’s US factories are running at half capacity – meaning there’s plenty of space to put Cybertrucks and self-driving vehicles together without building more infrastructure.

Why should I care?

For markets: Mars, space rockets, the White House, and… a struggling old carmaker.

Investors pushed Nissan’s stock up 9% after the news – but don’t bet on a fairytale ending. Tesla may be too busy with its own problems: sales fell last year for the first time in over a decade, it’s laying off more than 10% of its workforce, and the stock has held anything but steady. Plus, aiding an old-school carmaker isn’t exactly the sort of innovation-heavy moonshot that gets Elon Musk out of bed in the morning.

The bigger picture: There’s no relationship like a geopolitical one.

Nissan needs a hero, but the Japanese government has high standards for its darling carmaker. That’s why it’s been stand-offish with Foxconn – the Taiwanese electronics firm. Wary of its ties to China, the government would rather wait for another suitor to come around. And rather than emotional availability or good old-fashioned height, Japan will vet them based on geopolitical standings.