Hong Kong’s stock exchange reported its highest quarterly profit in nearly four years after China’s stimulus measures boosted trading and listing volume.
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BEIJING — Mainland Chinese investors are piling into the Hong Kong stock market at record volumes as its tech-heavy Hang Seng Index trades around three-year highs.
Net mainland Chinese purchases of Hong Kong stocks hit a record 29.62 billion Hong Kong dollars ($3.81 billion) on Monday, according to the Wind Information database.
That was the most since the Hong Kong stock market launched its “connect” program with the mainland, allowing local investors easier access to a select number of stocks traded offshore. The Shanghai Connect launched in November 2014, while the Shenzhen Connect opened in December 2016.
The Hang Seng Index traded around 0.7% lower Tuesday morning following a sharp sell-off in U.S. stocks overnight on worries about the impact of tariffs on global growth.
Net buys via the Shanghai Connect reached nearly 18 billion HKD on Monday, while those from the Shenzhen Connect reached 11.63 billion HKD, the data showed.
Hong Kong-traded shares of Alibaba and Tencent, both of which are not traded in mainland China, saw the largest net purchases, according to Wind data.
China last week affirmed its pro-growth stance by emphasizing plans to support private sector tech innovation, and increasing its fiscal deficit to a rare 4% of gross domestic product — including an expanded consumer subsidies program.
Citi’s global macro strategy team on Monday upgraded its view on Chinese stocks — namely the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index — to overweight, while downgrading the U.S. to neutral.
“One key reason why we have not been focused on Chinese equities is tariff risk,” the analysts said.
“Abstracting from this issue, we believe the case for China tech was clear. A) DeepSeek proved that China tech is at the Western technological frontier (or beyond), despite the export controls. This was followed by the release of Tencent’s Hunyuan (an AI video generator) and Alibaba’s QwQ-32B,” they added.
“We have seen some degree of consumption boost in the form of what the policymakers have been doing since January. It is not yet to the full extent that the market would like to have but at least it is a departure from the trend of many years,” he continued.
“So, right on top of my list, it would still be Hong Kong, China, the internet stocks, the large internet platforms and also some of the consumption-related names, mostly in athleisure, the restaurant stocks and other travel and tourism-related names,” Raychaudhuri said.
— CNBC’s Sam Meredith and Anniek Bao contributed to this report.
Check out the companies making the biggest moves midday: Warner Bros. Discovery – Shares jumped 7% after Warner said it will split into two publicly traded companies by next year. One company will host WBD’s streaming services and movie properties, while the other will include its cable networks such as CNN and TNT Sports. Universal Health Services — The hospital operator fell more than 6% after CFO Steve Filton said at a conference that procedural volumes “have been slower to recover back to historical levels than we might have imagined.” He also raised concerns over how President Donald Trump’s spending bill could evolve as it goes through the Senate, and what that would mean for the hospital industry, according to a FactSet transcript. Topgolf Callaway Brands — The golf equipment stock rallied 8% following director Adebayo Ogunlesi’s disclosure on Friday that he had bought 383,700 shares. Following the transaction, Ogunlesi owns 512,600 shares. Quaker Chemical – The metal processing fluid company, which does business as Quaker Houghton, jumped 10%. On Monday, Jefferies upgraded the stock to buy from hold, seeing more than 33% upside on the back of improving steel demand conditions and increasing infrastructure spending. EchoStar – Shares tumbled 6% after the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar, reported the telecommunications company is considering filing for bankruptcy under chapter 11 . The company is trying to protect its wireless spectrum licenses that are under review by the Federal Communications Commission, the report said. Apple — Shares of the iPhone maker are up slightly ahead of the company’s closely watched Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino, California . Investors are eager to hear more about Apple’s progress on Apple Intelligence, its response to generative AI models, at the meeting, which kicks off at 1 p.m. ET. Apple shares have lagged the market, with an 18% decline year to date. Robinhood , Applovin – Shares of Robinhood and Applovin fell 5% and 4%, respectively, after neither name was added to the S & P 500 on Friday. Both companies were considered possible candidates for inclusion in the index . Robinhood soared more than 13% last week leading up to the rebalance announcement, while Applovin advanced more than 6%. Intuitive Surgical — The surgical product maker slid 7% on the heels of Deutsche Bank’s downgrade to sell from hold. Deutsche said the company’s competitive moat is at risk. IonQ – The quantum computing stock climbed 2% after the company announced that it’s agreed to acquire Oxford Ionics in a deal valued at $1.075 billion in cash and stock. The deal is expected to close in 2025. Circle — Shares of the stablecoin issuer jumped 10%, continuing its post IPO surge . Circle’s stock is now nearly 300% above its $31 per share IPO price. McDonald’s – The fast-food chain’s stock slipped nearly 2% on the heels of a Morgan Stanley downgrade to equal weight from overweight. Morgan Stanley said the company hasn’t been insulated from pressures on the fast food sector. Moelis & Co. — Shares were more than 1% lower. On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that CEO Ken Moelis is planning to step down from the role at the investment bank. He said in an interview that he’s expected to become executive chairman, effective Oct. 1. Co-president Navid Mahmoodzadegan is slated to become CEO, the report said. Aon — Shares of the professional services company slipped 4% after Aon reaffirmed its full-year guidance during its investor day Monday. — CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Lisa Han, Alex Harring, Michelle Fox, Christina Cheddar Berk and Jesse Pound contributed reporting.
A Capital One Walmart credit card sign is seen at a store in Mountain View, California, United States on Tuesday, November 19, 2019.
Yichuan Cao | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Walmart‘s majority-owned fintech startup OnePay said Monday it was launching a pair of new credit cards for customers of the world’s biggest retailer.
OnePay is partnering with Synchrony, a major behind-the-scenes player in retail cards, which will issue the cards and handle underwriting decisions starting in the fall, the companies said.
OnePay, which was created by Walmart in 2021 with venture firm Ribbit Capital, will handle the customer experience for the card program through its mobile app.
Walmart had leaned on Capital One as the exclusive provider of its credit cards since 2018, but sued the bank in 2023 so that it could exit the relationship years ahead of schedule. At the time, Capital One accused Walmart of seeking to end its partnership so that it could move transactions to OnePay.
The Walmart card program had 10 million customers and roughly $8.5 billion in loans outstanding last year, when the partnership with Capital One ended, according to Fitch Ratings.
For Walmart and its fintech firm, the arrangement shows that, in seeking to quickly scale up in financial services, OnePay is opting to partner with established players rather than going it alone.
In March, OnePay announced that it was tapping Swedish fintech firm Klarna to handle buy now, pay later loans at the retailer, even after testing its own installment loan program.
Customers whose credit profiles don’t allow them to qualify for the general-purpose card will be offered the store card, according to a person with knowledge of the program.
OnePay didn’t yet disclose the rewards expected with the cards, though the general-purpose card is expected to provide a stronger value, said this person, who declined to be identified speaking ahead of the product’s release. The Synchrony partnership was reported earlier by Bloomberg.
“Our goal with this credit card program is to deliver an experience for consumers that’s transparent, rewarding, and easy to use,” OnePay CEO Omer Ismail said in the Monday release.
“We’re excited to be partnering with Synchrony to launch a program at Walmart that checks each of those boxes and will help serve millions of people,” Ismail said.
Check out the companies making headlines before the bell. Warner Bros. Discovery – Shares jumped nearly 9% after Warner said it will split into two publicly traded companies by next year. One company will host WBD’s streaming services and movie properties, while the other will include its cable networks such as CNN and TNT Sports. Tesla – Shares of the electric vehicle maker dropped about 2% after Baird downgraded the stock to neutral from buy. The firm said that CEO Elon Musk’s comments on robotaxi plans are “a bit too optimistic” and that Musk’s relationship to President Donald Trump adds “considerable uncertainty.” EchoStar – Shares tumbled 11% after the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar, said the telecommunications company is considering filing for bankruptcy under chapter 11 . The company is trying to protect its wireless spectrum licenses that are under review by the Federal Communications Commission, the report said. Robinhood , Applovin – Shares of Robinhood and Applovin each fell about 4% after neither name was added to the S & P 500 on Friday, as both names were considered possible candidates for inclusion in the index . Robinhood soared more than 13% last week leading up to the rebalance announcement, while Applovin advanced more than 6%. IonQ – The quantum computing stock gained more than 7% after the company announced that it’s agreed to acquire Oxford Ionics in a deal valued at $1.075 billion in cash and stock. The deal is expected to close in 2025. McDonald’s – The fast-food chain’s stock slipped nearly 1% on the heels of a Morgan Stanley downgrade to equal weight from overweight. Morgan Stanley said the company hasn’t been insulated from pressures on the fast food sector. Moelis & Co. – Shares were marginally lower. On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that CEO Ken Moelis is planning to step down from the role at the investment bank. He said in an interview that he’s expected to become executive chairman, effective Oct. 1. Co-president Navid Mahmoodzadegan is slated to become CEO, the report said. — CNBC’s Alex Harring, Fred Imbert and Sarah Min contributed reporting.