Week in Review
- Asian equities had a surprisingly strong week, both on an absolute basis and relative to the US and Europe, though Hong Kong and Mainland China had short weeks due to the May Day holiday.
- China’s May Day travel numbers were released this week and indicated strong demand for travel with many metrics up 2 to 3 times from 2022 levels following China’s reopening and significantly higher than even 2019 levels.
- It was announced this week that Alibaba may spin off its international E-Commerce segment in a separate US listing.
- In this week’s video update, Xiabing Su takes us to the floor of the Shanghai Auto Show.
Friday’s Key News
Asian equities were mixed overnight. India underperformed on an MSCI index decision though Japan, South Korea, and Thailand were on holiday. The Asia Dollar Index and CNY gained versus the US Dollar this week.
China’s adoption of mobile payments allows for real time consumption data similar to the real time data on Labor Day holiday travel. Tencent’s WeChat Pay and Alibaba’s Alipay reported strong consumption data, according to the South China Morning Post. Alipay reported travel-related purchases increased +70% from 2019 and 3X 2022’s levels. WeChat Pay reported that average daily transactions for transport-related spending tripled from 2019 levels while hotels and tourist attraction transactions were up +93%. If you are traveling, you need to eat, sleep, and maybe do some shopping.
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