The market recently experienced a significant downturn, largely triggered by the warning issued by Walmart, which saw its stock plummet over 6.5%. This drop was a substantial contributor to the decline of American stock markets, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffering a steep 450-point fall, effectively erasing gains made over the previous few weeksThe S&P 500 index also dipped from its record heights, while the Nasdaq ended a series of five consecutive days of increasesTesla shares fell nearly 2%, whereas Nvidia rebounded, and Intel recorded gains exceeding 1%. However, Palantir saw a considerable drop, declining more than 5%.

In the past two days, the yield on the 10-year U.STreasury has decreased, nearing a one-week lowThe dollar index has also retreated, reaching a two-month lowThe Japanese yen rose more than 1% during the intraday trading, achieving a two-month peak, while the offshore Chinese yuan climbed over 500 points, surpassing 7.24, marking its highest level in nearly three months.

Oil prices hit a one-week high, with Brent crude rising for four consecutive daysGold prices in the spot market reached historical intraday highs over the past two days before witnessing a slight retreat.

In the Asian hours, both the A-shares and Hong Kong stocks experienced corrections, with the Hang Seng Technology Index declining over 3%. Despite the pullback, sectors such as robotics and AI eyewear remained robust, though food delivery giant Meituan dropped by 6%. Additionally, government bond futures fell across the board.

In significant news, Alibaba's third-quarter operating profit surged by 83% year-on-year, vastly exceeding expectationsThe growth was driven by a 13% increase in Alibaba Cloud revenue, which reached 31.7 billion RMB, complemented by an outstanding capital expenditure that spiked 80% on a quarterly basis to 31.8 billion RMBDuring a conference call, Alibaba announced plans to release advanced reasoning models soon, predicting that its infrastructure investment in cloud and AI over the next three years will surpass the total from the past decade.

Another noteworthy development came from Bilibili, which reported its first quarterly profit in Q4, achieving a 19% year-on-year increase in annual revenue.

U.S

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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen communicated that there are currently no intentions to backstop gold reserves and that increasing the share of long-term debt issuance will take some timeFollowing this statement, spot gold prices experienced a temporary decline.

Walmart reported strong Q4 performance, but the outlook for this year appears bleak, prompting the stock to drop sharply by 6.5%. Rising inflation in the U.S. has led consumers seeking discounts to flock to Walmart, bolstering its revenueHowever, dismal guidance for income and profit in the fiscal year 2026 led to a downturn in pre-market trading.

OpenAI has surpassed 400 million weekly active users, with its CFO stating that achieving $11 billion in revenue this year is entirely plausible.

As markets closed, the Dow Jones fell by 1.01%, the S&P 500 index decreased by 0.43%, and the Nasdaq slipped by 0.47%. Furthermore, European stocks reflected similar trends, with the European STOXX 600 index down by 0.20%, Germany's DAX 30 declining by 0.53%, France's CAC 40 increasing by 0.15%, and the UK’s FTSE 100 falling by 0.57%. In the A-share market, the Shanghai Composite Index experienced a slight decrease of 0.02%, while the Shenzhen Component rose by 0.2% amidst a minor decline of the ChiNext Index by 0.06%.

In the bond market, by market close, the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.STreasury was around 4.51%, a drop of approximately two basis points during the day, while the yield on the two-year Treasury remained relatively stable at around 4.27% compared to Wednesday.

On the commodities front, WTI crude oil for March delivery rose by 0.44%, closing at $72.57 per barrel, and Brent crude for April delivery increased by 0.58%, closing at $76.48 per barrelCOMEX April gold futures rose by 0.68%, reaching $2956.1 per ounce.

Turning to global themes, Morgan Stanley has declared a significant change in its outlook and is no longer bearish on the MSCI China index, indicating that the Chinese stock market is undergoing a “structural transformation.” Analysts suggest that Morgan Stanley's upgraded rating signals a potential fundamental shift in global investors’ perceptions of the Chinese market.

Goldman Sachs estimates that AI could lead to a net infusion of $200 billion into the Chinese stock market

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They project that widespread AI adoption could increase earnings per share for Chinese companies by 2.5% annually over the next decade, which would boost fair valuations for these stocks by 15-20%.

Alibaba's substantial increase in capital expenditure correlates with its accelerated growth in core operations, with revenues from its Taobao and Tmall platforms rebounding strongly as Alibaba Cloud returns to double-digit growth, and AI-related product revenues maintain triple-digit growth over six consecutive quartersCEO Daniel Zhang emphasized Alibaba's continued focus on three key business areas: e-commerce, AI coupled with cloud computing, and internet platform products, signaling a robust investment strategy over the next three years on AI infrastructure.

In terms of overseas macroeconomic trends, a Morgan Stanley executive expressed concerns about the overwhelming enthusiasm of retail investors in the U.S. stock market for popular stocks, suggesting that such fervor may typically indicate the peak stages of a bull marketThe sentiment among retail investors has reached levels not seen since the 2021 meme stock frenzy.

In Japan, expectations are soaring for potential interest rate hikes by the Bank of Japan in July, with the yen crossing above 150 against the dollarTraders believe the chances of an interest rate hike at the forthcoming meeting have climbed to an 85% likelihood, albeit the central bank has yet to openly discuss yield increase strategies, which analysts infer could open the door for rate hikes if the Prime Minister does not voice opposition to the direction of Japanese bonds.

Furthermore, Satya Nadella shared his reflections on Microsoft’s strategies regarding AI and quantum computing, noting that accurately identifying viable business models is more challenging than merely recognizing technological trendsHe emphasized that the benchmark for artificial general intelligence (AGI) is not merely about arbitrary assessments but rather about the ability of the world to grow economically.

In the realm of robotics, two remarkable unicorns overseas have recently raised substantial funding

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Figure AI aims to raise $1.5 billion at a valuation of $39.5 billion, a significant leap from its $2.6 billion valuation last year, while Field AI plans to raise several hundred million dollars at a $2 billion valuation, up from a mere $500 million last summer.