NEWS BRIEFS

Alibaba beats earnings， shrugging off slowing Chinese economy

Shares of Alibaba rallied by more than 8% in early trading after the company posted quarterly earnings above expectations. Recently， the Chinese ecommerce company reported quarterly sales of $2.8 billion， a 45% increase from the previous year， beating the estimate for $2.6 billion according to Bloomberg.

The company posted adjusted earn- ings per share of$0.48， beating the estimate for$0.42.“Alibaba had a strong quarter with significant growth across our key operating metrics，” said Jonathan Lu， Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group in the release. “We grew revenue， gross merchandise volume and annual active buyers， and we expanded our unrivaled leadership position in mobile.”

The company also announced Daniel Zhang as its new CEO， replacing Jonathan Lu.In an earnings preview， Morgan Stanley analysts noted a recent speech by Alibaba Jack Ma in which he said said he expects a headcount freeze in 2015.That could be interpreted to mean the company expects its earnings to be strained， the analysts said.

The company has also been rattled by fraud allegations. The Chinese government said Alibaba wasnt doing enough to crack down on merchants selling fake stuff on Taobao， its biggest online selling platform.

Another report said Alibaba vendors allegedly pay people to buy products and give positive feedback on the site – a practice known as “brushing.”

Latest China data offer more evidence of economic slowdown

A slew of readings on Chinas economy in July came in slightly below expectations， offering further evidence of a slowdown in the mainlands economy.

Chinas industrial production grew 6.0 percent on-year in July， compared with expectations for 6.1 percent growth， according to a Reuters poll of 39 analysts， with forecasts ranging from 6.0-6.7 percent. In June， industrial production grew 6.2 percent， according to Reuters.

Retail sales and fixed asset investment also missed expectations slightly. July retail sales grew a respectable 10.2 percent on year， but that was slightly below expectations of a 10.5 percent increase in a Reuters poll.

Fixed asset investment （FAI） for the January-to-July period rose 8.1 percent， missing a Reuters forecast for 8.8 percent and marking the slowest growth since 1999， according to Reuters. Private sector FAI growth just 2.1 percent on-year in the January-to-July period， down from 2.8 percent growth in the first half of the year.