The stimulus boost Alibaba Group Holding stock and other Chinese shares enjoyed Monday is already fading fast.
Investors cheered the prospect of looser monetary policy and more proactive fiscal measures by Beijing Monday but 24 hours later they’re not sure if it will be enough.
China’s latest trade data contributed to those doubts, highlighting the scale of the challenge to get the world’s second-largest economy back on track. Imports unexpectedly fell 3.9% in November from a year ago, the worst drop in 14 months—economists predicted a 0.2% rise, according to FactSet data.
Exports rose 6.7%, a slowdown from the 12.7% jump in October. And that’s before any potential U.S. tariffs on China, which are likely to hurt exports next year.
The trade reading “doesn’t install much confidence about Beijing’s efforts to get the country back on top,” AJ Bell analyst Dan Coatsworth said. “The prospect of higher tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the U.S. once Donald Trump is back in the White House also casts a dark cloud on the near-term outlook, making investors nervous about the region,” he added.
The optimism dwindled pretty quickly—China’s CSI 300 Index was up 3.3% at one point but closed just 0.7% higher on Tuesday. The Asian market close prevented further losses, which were instead being felt most keenly in Europe and the U.S. on Tuesday.
U.S.-listed Chinese companies had a stellar day Monday but the next day lost a significant portion of those gains in the day ahead.
Alibaba’s U.S.-traded American depositary receipts fell 2.7% Tuesday, after jumping 7.4% Monday. E-commerce rival JD.com slumped 4.1% following its 11% surge in the previous session. It was a similar story for ADRs of Chinese electric-vehicle makers NIO, Li Auto, and XPeng—all three were between 5% and 8% lower.
London-listed miners, which rose in the previous session on hopes that China’s stimulus could boost precious metal prices, reversed Tuesday. Glencore, Antofagasta and Endeavour Mining were all more than 2% lower on Tuesday.