Tonight’s Highlights | Alibaba Leads AI Narrative, Lithium Americas Surges 66%
Boosted by Alibaba’s push on the “AI narrative,” U.S. stock futures rebounded Wednesday pre-market after Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s valuation warning cooled markets. Nvidia and other tech giants saw modest gains.
As of this writing, Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.22%, S&P 500 futures gained 0.15%, and Dow futures climbed 0.13%. Gold prices, after hitting record highs, held steady, while oil prices rose amid Trump’s surprise support for Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
(Nasdaq Index daily chart, Source: TradingView)
Alibaba is the global market’s hotspot tonight. If it holds its near-9% pre-market gain, it’ll hit a new high since late 2021, with its market cap surpassing $420 billion, overtaking Samsung as Asia’s fourth-largest listed company.
(Alibaba weekly chart, Source: TradingView)
At today’s Yunqi Conference, Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu announced a 380 billion yuan investment in AI infrastructure, with plans for more.
Alibaba Cloud partnered with Nvidia on Physical AI, integrating Nvidia’s tools into its platform to empower robotics and autonomous vehicles. Alibaba also launched Qwen3-Max, a model “outperforming GPT5,” and the Qwen3-Next architecture.
OpenAI’s story continues amid AI hype. After announcing a 17-gigawatt data center project earlier this week, CEO Sam Altman addressed “circular financing” concerns, saying the projects meet soaring demand and are just a fraction of AI’s infrastructure needs.
Altman highlighted that 10 gigawatts of compute could unlock cancer cures or personalized tutoring for every student globally. Without enough compute, tough choices loom—so build now.
Just before this writing, OpenAI announced a partnership with SAP to create a “German sovereign OpenAI” using SAP-Microsoft’s Delos cloud, targeting Germany’s public sector AI market.
Other Market News
Lithium Americas Surges 66% on U.S. Government Stake Talks
Insiders say the Trump administration is seeking a stake in Lithium Americas, renegotiating a $2.3 billion Energy Department loan. As of this writing, the stock jumped 66% pre-market. $LAC
Saudi Financial Stocks Soar as Regulator May Ease Foreign Ownership Caps
Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index surged nearly 5% Wednesday, with heavyweights like Al Rajhi Bank, Saudi National Bank, and Saudi Tadawul hitting 10% daily gain caps. Reports suggest Saudi may allow foreign investors to hold majority stakes in local firms.
Micron Technology Posts Strong Earnings
Micron reported better-than-expected Q4 2025 revenue and profit after Tuesday’s close, with robust guidance. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra noted DRAM inventories below target, declining NAND stocks, and locked-in HBM capacity amid strong demand growth. $MU
UBS Bullishly Raises Tesla Q3 Delivery Forecast
Ahead of Tesla’s Q3 delivery data next week, UBS raised its estimate from 431,000 to 475,000 vehicles, a 10% jump, implying 24% growth over last quarter. $TSLA
Stablecoin Giant Tether Seeks $500B Valuation
Tether Holdings is reportedly negotiating to raise $15-20 billion by selling 3% equity, potentially valuing the firm at $500 billion. CEO Paolo Ardoino said they’re exploring funding from key investors to scale existing and new business lines significantly.