Alibaba shares jump on Hong Kong primary listing plans

In today’s top stories, shares of Alibaba were boosted by plans to move its primary listing to Hong Kong, while Coinbase’s stock fell following news of an SEC investigation. Meanwhile, a Chilean ETF is one of best performing in a group of emerging market funds and a strategist is forecasting disappointing earnings for Amazon. Walmart’s reduced profit guidance also sent shockwaves across retail stocks.

China tech moves to Hong Kong

Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed shares jumped close to 5% on Tuesday after the company said that it was seeking to move its primary listing to the country. Bloomberg reported that JD.com [JD] and Baidu [BIDU], alongside roughly 200 US-traded Chinese companies that face delisting, may be next to follow. If Washington and Beijing fail to agree on auditing transparency, then the exodus to Hong Kong could make it the financial hub of Asia.  

Coinbase crumbles on SEC probe

The 73.4% year-to-date collapse of Coinbase [COIN] stock has come under further pressure after Bloomberg reported that it was facing an SEC investigation into whether the firm allowed the trading of digital assets, which should have been registered as securities. Another factor that could reduce the stock’s value by one-third over the next five years is share dilution, JPMorgan analyst Kenneth Worthington told MarketWatch. He also expects cryptocurrency exchange Robinhood [HOOD] to face similar issues.

Strategist’s earnings stock picks

Investors “really need to pay attention to” Apple [AAPL], Amazon [AMZN], Microsoft [MSFT] and Alphabet [GOOGL] when each company reports earnings this week, John Blank, chief equity strategist at Zacks Investment Research, told CNBC. Because all four big tech stocks account for close to one-quarter of the S&P 500’s value, he expects each stock’s price movements to affect the entire index. While Blank forecasts that Alphabet will disappoint, the others are expected to release earnings surprises.

Emerging market ETFs outperform

Morningstar senior fund analyst Kenneth Lamont told the Financial Times that funds tracking the performance of equities in Brazil, Nigeria, Chile and Saudi Arabia have registered positive returns so far this year, boosted by rising energy prices. Data from TrackInsight reveals that the iShares MSCI Chile ETF’s [ECH] 14% 12-month gain (through 21 July) makes it one of the best performing non-leveraged ETFs in the group.

US retail market woes

Shares in Amazon dipped 4% in extended trading on Monday after Walmart [WMT] lowered its profit guidance, citing rising inflation in food and fuel as the reason for the downbeat outlook. With Amazon due to announce its Q2 earnings later today, signs of slowing consumer discretionary spending could be a headwind in the ecommerce giant’s results. Other retail stocks such as Target [TGT], Costco [COST] and Nordstrom [JWN] also fell on the news.

Soaring energy prices set to boost Shell

After reporting its highest ever quarterly profits in the first three months of the year, the energy major’s upcoming Q2 earnings are expected to be just as promising. Shell [SHEL.L] is predicted to benefit from rising oil prices, with analysts forecasting a 15.8% rise in earnings from the previous quarter. However, income could be cut by between $300m and $500m after its divestment from the Sakhalin-2 LNG project in Russia.

GSK’s Haleon spinoff in the spotlight

Shares in the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline [GSK.L] have outperformed the FTSE 100 so far this year and could be primed for a post-earnings bounce if the company reports positive Q2 results on Wednesday. Though rising inflation and interest rates could hamper growth, the debut of GSK’s consumer healthcare spinoff Haleon [HLN.L] on the LSE on 18 July has been a tailwind for the stock.