Dear Fellow Investor,
Gold didn't "dip" from $5,423 to $5,000.
It was forced down.
After the Iran strikes, something inside the gold market broke.
This pullback isn't weakness — it's a setup.
While retail investors hesitate…
...the smart money is quietly loading up.
Not on gold.
On a little-known "Shadow Miner" positioned for what happens next.
Because on March 31st, a 90-year-old law could expose what's really inside the vaults.
And when that happens…
..this "Iran discount" disappears overnight.
[See the ticker before the reset >>>]
"The Buck Stops Here,"
Dylan Jovine, CEO & Founder
Behind the Markets
Alibaba Stock Is Getting Hit Again, but Qwen and Cloud Growth Are Surging
Authored by Leo Miller. Published: 3/20/2026.
Key Points
- Alibaba’s latest quarter showed modest revenue growth but a sharp drop in adjusted profit as the company continued spending heavily to defend its China commerce position.
- Cloud revenue growth accelerated, reflecting strong demand for AI-related products, even as broader concerns persist about talent retention and longer-term AI execution.
- Alibaba’s outlook hinges on whether near-term margin pressure from fast delivery and other initiatives can be balanced by sustained cloud and AI monetization.
- Special Report: Elon's "Hidden" Company
For Chinese e-commerce giant and cloud provider Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA), the past six months have been rough.
Over that period, Alibaba shares have fallen more than 30%. Market share losses in Chinese e-commerce and questions about the firm's artificial intelligence (AI) leadership have been two significant headwinds for the stock.
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Click here to see how to claim your SpaceX access codeThe decline was compounded by BABA's latest earnings report, which sent shares down roughly 7%.
Still, Alibaba is one of the most important companies in China and a serious AI player through its cloud business. That combination makes it difficult to ignore, even after a rough stretch for the stock. The latest quarter clarified the story: Alibaba is spending aggressively to defend its commerce franchise now, betting that accelerating cloud and AI demand will rebuild profitability over time.
Margin Pressure Deepens as Fast-Delivery Spending Rises
In its fiscal Q3 2026, Alibaba reported revenue of $40.73 billion, a 2% year-over-year increase. That modestly missed estimates of $40.95 billion, which implied roughly 3% growth.
The bigger problem was earnings. Alibaba posted adjusted earnings of $1.01 per ADR, missing the analyst estimate of $1.65 and falling 67% from a year earlier. An ADR, or American depositary receipt, is a bank-issued U.S. security that represents Alibaba's underlying shares and lets U.S. investors trade the stock in dollars on U.S. exchanges.
Management said the profit decline reflected heavier spending on quick commerce, user-experience initiatives and technology, with improved cloud performance only partially offsetting the impact.
The company also faces a tougher competitive environment in China's e-commerce market, which has raised the cost of defending share.
PDD (NASDAQ: PDD) has been winning in value-focused shopping, while ByteDance's Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok) has become a leader in discovery-based shopping, where users buy products after seeing them in social feeds. Meanwhile, Meituan (OTCMKTS: MPNGF) remains dominant in food delivery and related services. Alibaba is still the largest player but is investing heavily to defend that position, and at present those investments are weighing on profitability.
Quick commerce, which focuses on delivering products in one hour or less, has become a cornerstone of Alibaba's e-commerce strategy. There were some encouraging signs: quick commerce revenue rose 56% year-over-year during the quarter.
The company added 150 million annual active customers (AAC) in 2025 — users who made at least one purchase during the year. However, these additions tend to be lower quality: they make smaller purchases and buy less frequently.
Alibaba is aiming to win over the long haul, and does not expect the quick-commerce business to be profitable until fiscal 2029.
Cloud Growth Accelerates as Qwen Sees Strong Developer Adoption
Alibaba's Cloud Intelligence Group was one of the quarter's clearest positives. Revenue rose 36% year-over-year to $6.19 billion, marking the unit's ninth consecutive quarter of accelerating growth and its fastest pace in three years. Management pointed to AI demand as a key driver, with AI-related product revenue growing at a triple-digit rate for the 10th straight quarter. The segment also remained profitable, with an adjusted EBITA margin described as "relatively stable" at 9%.
The company's foundational model, Qwen, is the most widely used open-source model on Hugging Face, with more than 1 billion downloads. Hugging Face is a platform where developers download and tune models to build applications.
That open-source adoption matters because broader developer usage can translate into demand for inference and tooling within Alibaba's cloud ecosystem. As more developers build on Qwen, more usage shifts to running and serving those models at scale through inference and related tools.
Hugging Face data also shows Qwen is a popular base for customization, with developers creating more than 113,000 derivative models tuned from Qwen.
That is more than the next two closest competitors, Alphabet's (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META), combined.
The takeaway is straightforward: Qwen has gained significant traction with developers, and that traction can help support Alibaba's cloud growth as more applications are deployed and used.
Alibaba has set aggressive goals for its cloud and AI push. CEO Eddie Wu has said the company is targeting more than $100 billion in combined external cloud and AI revenue within five years, underscoring how central AI monetization has become to the long-term plan.
Alibaba's Solid Balance Sheet Helps Fund Longer-Term Priorities
Notably, Alibaba's free cash flow has been negative for many of the last several quarters. Over the past nine months, free cash flow was negative $4.2 billion. However, the figure turned positive this quarter at $1.62 billion.
Despite significant cash outflows recently, Alibaba's balance sheet remains strong. The company notes cash and other liquid investments of $80.1 billion against about $37 billion of debt. Those resources give Alibaba considerable flexibility to keep investing in strategic priorities.
The company did not address the recent resignation of Qwen's head of AI, Lin Junyang. Any further changes in the firm's AI leadership will be important to monitor, as they could affect whether Alibaba can maintain its strong position.
Alibaba clearly has high hopes for its long-term future. Near-term issues are pressuring its e-commerce business, but the company's progress in AI supports a constructive outlook. With AI monetization still in relatively early stages and shares down significantly, BABA's risk-reward profile looks interesting for long-term investors.
Amazon's Prime Day Shift: Why Moving It to June Matters
Authored by Sam Quirke. Published: 3/21/2026.
Key Points
- Amazon is reportedly planning to move its flagship Prime Day event from its usual July slot into late June.
- The move would pull a major revenue driver from Q3 into Q2, potentially setting up stronger near-term financial results at a time when investor sentiment has been under pressure.
- With concerns around AI spending, inflation and consumer demand weighing on the stock, this decision could play an important role in shaping Amazon’s narrative in the months ahead.
- Special Report: Elon's "Hidden" Company
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is no stranger to using scale and timing to its advantage, but its reported decision to shift Prime Day into June stands out as a particularly strategic move. Traditionally held in July, the event has become one of the company's biggest annual sales drivers, generating a significant spike in consumer revenue and engagement across its ecosystem.
Moving Prime Day earlier is more than a calendar tweak; it appears to be a deliberate attempt to bolster near-term performance at a time when the company — and its stock — could use the lift. After a mixed start to the year that saw its most recent earnings report miss headline expectations and raise fresh concerns about rising costs, Amazon has reason to reinforce investor confidence. Here's our take on the implications of the Bloomberg report.
Pulling Demand Forward Into Q2
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After meeting Elon Musk face-to-face at a private gathering of Wall Street elites and months of my own research, I'm now staking my reputation on one date: March 26, 2026. That's when I believe Elon will announce the SpaceX IPO—what Bloomberg is calling the biggest listing of all time. I have found an access code that lets you grab a pre-IPO stake before it happens, but in 72 hours, your window could close.
Click here to see how to claim your SpaceX access codeThe most immediate impact of moving Prime Day to June is financial: it pulls a meaningful portion of demand from the third quarter into Q2. That matters because quarterly results heavily influence how investors assess momentum. A stronger second quarter, aided by Prime Day activity, could reduce the risk of a disappointing following quarter and help re-establish a sense of forward progress.
There's also a timing advantage. Holding the event in late June lets Amazon capture the early stages of back-to-school shopping, which typically ramps in July and August. Getting ahead of that curve can help the company lock in discretionary spending earlier than usual, potentially boosting both revenue and engagement metrics.
A Strategic Move in a Competitive Market
Prime Day is a competitive battleground where Amazon sets the pace and forces rivals to respond. By moving the event earlier, Amazon may catch competitors off guard. Retailers often align their own promotions with Prime Day; shifting it into June disrupts that rhythm and could give Amazon a temporary edge if competitors are slower to adapt.
More broadly, the change reinforces Amazon's ability to dictate the retail calendar. It's a reminder that the company still shapes the terms of engagement across e-commerce, which matters as macro pressures — like $100-a-barrel oil and renewed inflation concerns — start to weigh on consumer spending. In that environment, any advantage in the race for shoppers' attention becomes more valuable.
Helping Rebalance the Narrative
Perhaps the most important implication is how the Prime Day timing fits into Amazon's broader story with investors. The stock is trading around $215 and has struggled to build momentum so far in 2026.
Much of that hesitation stems from concerns about the company's aggressive investment in artificial intelligence. While many investors acknowledge the long-term opportunity, the scale of planned capital expenditures has raised questions about margins and near-term profitability.
In that context, a strong Prime Day could be valuable. Robust sales, higher engagement and a bump to advertising revenue tied to the event would reinforce the strength of Amazon's core business and make its heavy investment cycle easier for investors to accept.
The move therefore looks both defensive and opportunistic: it offers a potential near-term boost to financial performance while helping shift the narrative toward growth and demand rather than only costs and spending. Wall Street appears to be leaning in that direction — analysts at Citigroup and Needham & Company recently reiterated Buy ratings, echoing calls from Evercore and Wells Fargo. The latter's $304 price target implies roughly 40% upside from current levels, suggesting investors still see significant potential.
Risks Still Remain
That said, the move is not without risk. Pulling demand forward can create tougher year-over-year comparisons later in the year, especially if third-quarter results soften. Rising oil prices and potential renewed inflationary pressures could also dampen consumer spending, reducing the impact of any promotional event regardless of timing.
Margins are another concern. Prime Day is a discount-driven event: it can drive volume but also pressure profitability if discounts and promotional costs aren't carefully managed, particularly when investors are already focused on cost discipline.
Considering Getting Involved
Ultimately, shifting Prime Day to June looks like a calculated effort to strengthen Amazon's near-term financial profile when the stock could benefit. If the event delivers a strong lift to Q2 results and reaffirms consumer demand, it could help shift sentiment and set the stage for a more sustained recovery in the shares. If it falls short, however, it risks reinforcing the concerns that have weighed on the stock in recent months.
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