Chile's Economic Growth Triples Forecast as Mining Surges
The Imacec index, a proxy for gross domestic product, rose 0.6% from March, triple the 0.2% median estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Activity gained 2.5% from the prior year, the central bank reported on Monday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wall Street Journal
9 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
What Happens When Politicians Meddle With Economic Data: Argentina's Example
Government statistician Graciela Bevacqua arrived at the office on a Monday to bad news from her boss: There was no easy way to say this, but the president wanted her head. It was January 2007, and Bevacqua oversaw the consumer-price index at Argentina's national statistics agency, Indec. Rising inflation threatened the electoral hopes of leftist President Néstor Kirchner's wife, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who was running to succeed him. Bevacqua was unwilling to fudge the numbers, so Kirchner replaced her with a loyalist who did it.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Thinking of Buying Alibaba Stock? Here's 1 Green Flag and 1 Red Flag.
Key Points AI cloud could be the answer to Alibaba's next phase of growth. But core e-commerce is still dragging. Investors should have the right expectations when investing in the stock. 10 stocks we like better than Alibaba Group › Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) was once the crown jewel of China's internet economy. Today, it's more complicated. The e-commerce giant has faced regulatory crackdowns, weakening Chinese consumer marketing, and fierce competition from fast-moving rivals like Pinduoduo and Douyin. Yet beneath the surface, Alibaba is quietly undergoing a significant transformation -- one that could define its next decade. For investors considering the stock today, here's one green flag that signals long-term potential, and one red flag that still casts a shadow. Green flag: AI and cloud could rewrite Alibaba's growth story Alibaba is no longer content with being just an e-commerce platform. Its most ambitious bet today is on becoming an artificial intelligence (AI)-native enterprise -- and the heart of that shift lies in Alibaba Cloud. Once seen as a lower-margin, China-centric hosting business, Alibaba Cloud has repositioned itself around artificial intelligence. At the core of this transition is its integration with Qwen -- Alibaba's open-source large language model (LLM), which significantly expands the platform's reach beyond just cloud infrastructure. Qwen itself is no lightweight. The latest version, Qwen3, rivals the performance of OpenAI's GPT-4 and Google's Gemini in several benchmark tasks. But that's just one part of the story. The most significant strategic move that Alibaba Cloud has undertaken for Qwen is to make it open-source, inviting anyone to leverage its model to build their own AI applications. This open AI strategy positions Alibaba Cloud to expand beyond China into emerging markets and Southeast Asia, especially in markets where U.S. tech dominance is weaker. As developers build on Qwen, they will naturally utilize other services offered by Alibaba. In other words, Alibaba Cloud aims to become a full-stack AI ecosystem for developers and businesses. Besides investing in Qwen, Alibaba Cloud is also doubling down on its investment in core infrastructure, aiming to invest around $50 billion in the next three years. This planned investment will exceed Alibaba's total AI and cloud spending over the past decade, demonstrating the company's commitment to becoming a leading AI cloud provider. If successful, AI and cloud computing could become Alibaba's growth driver for the next decade, just as AWS is now a key growth driver for Amazon. Red flag: Core e-commerce is still struggling to regain its past glory While AI captures investor attention, Alibaba's core revenue continues to come from domestic commerce. In fiscal year 2025 (ended March 31), this segment accounted for 45% of revenue and 113% of adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization (EBITA) -- a sign that Alibaba's profits remain heavily dependent on its e-commerce operations. Note that EBITA was 113% since other segments recorded a combined loss in 2024. But growth is sluggish. In fiscal year 2025, ended March 31, 2025, Taobao and Tmall revenue grew just 3%, as consumer sentiment in China remained soft amid a weak economic backdrop and ongoing geopolitical tensions. At the same time, Alibaba is facing intense competition from Pinduoduo's low-price strategy and Douyin's short video commerce -- both of which are quickly capturing market share. Alibaba has attempted to respond by incorporating AI into its shopping experiences and intensifying efforts to reengage merchants and users. Encouragingly, domestic e-commerce revenue grew 9% year over year in the March 2025 quarter -- a notable improvement from the full-year trend. If Alibaba can sustain its execution, it can continue to ride the tailwinds of a growing GDP per capita and a growing retail industry. Still, Alibaba has to prove it can sustain this momentum. The structural pressures -- from competition to shifts in consumer behavior -- won't disappear overnight. What does it mean for investors? Alibaba is at a crossroads. On one hand, it's laying the foundation for long-term success through open-source AI, cloud infrastructure, and international expansion. On the other hand, its dominant Chinese e-commerce business is facing challenges that may persist for some time. For investors looking for short-term upside, there are cleaner growth stories elsewhere. However, those willing to wait for the AI flywheel to turn and who believe Alibaba can navigate China's evolving economic landscape may find this to be an underappreciated opportunity. Either way, Alibaba deserves a spot on your radar. Should you invest $1,000 in Alibaba Group right now? Before you buy stock in Alibaba Group, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Alibaba Group wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $653,427!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,119,863!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,060% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 182% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 4, 2025 Lawrence Nga has positions in Alibaba Group and PDD Holdings. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool recommends Alibaba Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Thinking of Buying Alibaba Stock? Here's 1 Green Flag and 1 Red Flag. was originally published by The Motley Fool
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Tourism and tech support Scotland's economic growth
Scotland's economy continues to show signs of improvement as it enters the second half of 2025 – with increasing confidence across mid-market businesses, solid performances across technology, media and telecommunications companies, and the fastest uptick in business services activity since 2024. The latest Royal Bank of Scotland report, which includes new data on the country's small and mid-market sectors, shows that the nation has remained on a positive growth trajectory since May. Scottish employment, led by the services sector, grew in May and has remained broadly stable through the first half of the year, comparing favourably against the rest of the UK. READ MORE: Oasis bring supersonic boost to Scottish economy READ MORE: Kate Forbes' resignation is a cautionary tale for all employers While concerns around rising employment costs and potential negative consequences for the tourism sector persist, the industry continues to help drive activity across all regions of Scotland. After a strong June, confidence that opportunities for growth will continue into next year are at their highest this year, with five of the six areas of the Scottish private sector economy tracked by the survey expecting further improvement. Across the private sector as a whole, a third of firms predict a rise in output in the next 12 months, with one in 10 forecasting a reduction. The manufacturing sector is still facing considerable challenges, with production in Scotland remaining in contraction in June – though this was at a slower pace than seen in May, with consumer goods showing more resilience than other parts of the sector towards the end of the first half. Paul Thwaite, chief executive of NatWest Group, said: 'While we continue to see a mixed picture for businesses in Scotland, it is encouraging to see some signs of momentum across the economy. 'Firms remain resilient, with activity and confidence improving in many areas, although this varies by sector as well as individual circumstances.' RBS' chief economist Sebastian Burnside said: 'Following the challenging start to the year, Scotland's economy hit a high point in June with private sector businesses reporting their strongest growth of the year so far. 'Business services and travel and tourism led the way, with mid-market firms showing renewed confidence in future growth. 'Scotland's businesses report higher employment trends than other parts of the UK, with mid-market services businesses and technology, media and telecoms firms scoring especially highly. 'Whilst there has been some stabilisation, businesses are still facing a rapidly changing international environment and domestic pressures — as we can see with manufacturers who reported tougher business conditions in June, particularly amongst smaller firms.' Don't miss the latest headlines with our twice-daily newsletter - sign up here for free. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
