For two fund managers at Fidelity International, Beijing’s latest stimulus announcements were significant enough for them to buy more beaten-down real estate stocks. Chinese authorities have released a series of incremental measures since late September that range from cutting interest rates to extending financial support for finishing construction on apartments that have already been sold. “This round of the policy pivot is quite significant in the sense that it is a well-coordinated [number of] supporting measures issued by different levels of government bodies,” Theresa Zhou, a fund manager at Fidelity International, told CNBC in an interview Wednesday. “We have been moderately increasing our position in China,” Zhou said. After the September policy announcements, she said the firm turned more positive on “certain cyclical names” in China real estate, after previously focusing on online platforms in the sector. If household confidence returns, that can pave the way for real estate prices to stabilize, especially in China’s larger cities, she said. As of late 2023 and early this year, Zhou said she had been concerned about the housing downcycle given relatively high inventories and falling home prices. Zhou and Ben Li are co-managers of Fidelity’s Greater China Fund . The firm does not disclose exact stock transactions. “We have been selectively increasing positions in quality companies in say the consumer and property sectors,” Li said. “In terms of consumer and property sector, we think they were hurt by the macro challenges in the last few years [and with the policy turning, some] may start to see incremental improvements.” “We think experienced-based consumption will continue to do well,” he said, noting the firm’s investment in online travel agencies. One of the top 10 holdings of Fidelity’s Greater China Fund is Chinese online booking platform Trip.com . In McKinsey senior partner Daniel Zipser’s latest assessment of Chinese consumer sentiment , he pointed out that property transactions in October and the first half of November rose by 2%, the first increase this year. That’s according to the firm’s analysis of daily transaction data for 30 cities. “It is fair to say that October has seen an uptick in consumption, creating positive momentum,” Zipser said. While China has not handed out cash to the public, authorities have used targeted trade-in subsidies to spur purchases of home appliances and other big-ticket items. Companies, such as Alibaba , have noted a boost in sales. Those trade-in measures helped increase panel TV sales in China since the third quarter, Nomura analysts said in a Nov. 20 note. They estimate that, in a sign of growing demand, utilization of TV production lines at BOE and TCL Technology will likely increase in November from October. Nomura rates the two Chinese electronics companies, both listed in Shenzhen, as buy. The two Fidelity fund managers emphasized that their strategy focuses on selecting companies based on their individual competitive advantage. They added that it will take time to see the impact of stimulus, and said that they are watching upcoming government meetings in December and March for more policy details. China’s top leaders typically gather in mid-December to discuss economic plans for the year ahead. Those measures and growth targets are then announced at a meeting of parliament in March. “The positive change from that stimulus package is removing the tail risk and putting a floor [under] the market,” Zhou said, noting she is “cautiously optimistic.” Earnings comments in the last two weeks from major Chinese companies have underscored how it will take time to see the impact of stimulus . “When we talk to companies on the ground after the earnings, it’s positive that we do sense some improvement in their tone in terms of the enterprise confidence and also their expectation for the next year,” Zhou said. In terms of geopolitical risk, she pointed out that Chinese companies have built out their overseas supply chain, making them better prepared today than they were several years ago for President-elect Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs.
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, leaves the U.S. Capitol after a meeting with Republican members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee on the issue of de-banking on Feb. 13, 2025.
Dimon, the veteran CEO and chairman of the biggest U.S. bank by assets, explained his worldview during his bank’s annual investor day meeting in New York. He said he believes the risks of higher inflation and even stagflation aren’t properly represented by stock market values, which have staged a comeback from lows in April.
“We have huge deficits; we have what I consider almost complacent central banks,” Dimon said. “You all think they can manage all this. I don’t think” they can, he said.
“My own view is people feel pretty good because you haven’t seen effective tariffs” yet, Dimon said. “The market came down 10%, [it’s] back up 10%; that’s an extraordinary amount of complacency.”
Dimon’s comments follow Moody’s rating agency downgrading the U.S. credit rating on Friday over concerns about the government’s growing debt burden. Markets have been whipsawed the past few months over worries that President Donald Trump‘s trade policies will raise inflation and slow the world’s largest economy.
Dimon said Monday that he believed Wall Street earnings estimates for S&P 500 companies, which have already declined in the first weeks of Trump’s trade policies, will fall further as companies pull or lower guidance amid the uncertainty.
In six months, those projections will fall to 0% earnings growth after starting the year at around 12%, Dimon said. If that were to happen, stocks prices will likely fall.
“I think earnings estimates will come down, which means PE will come down,” Dimon said, referring to the “price to earnings” ratio tracked closely by stock market analysts.
The odds of stagflation, “which is basically a recession with inflation,” are roughly double what the market thinks, Dimon added.
Separately, one of Dimon’s top deputies said that corporate clients are still in “wait-and-see” mode when it comes to acquisitions and other deals.
Investment banking revenue is headed for a “mid-teens” percentage decline in the second quarter compared with the year-earlier period, while trading revenue was trending higher by a “mid-to-high” single digit percentage, said Troy Rohrbaugh, a co-head of the firm’s commercial and investment bank.
On the ever-present question of Dimon’s timeline to hand over the CEO reins to one of his deputies, Dimon said that nothing changed from his guidance last year, when he said he would likely remain for less than five more years.
“If I’m here for four more years, and maybe two more” as executive chairman, Dimon said, “that’s a long time.”
Of all the executive presentations given Monday, consumer banking chief Marianne Lake had the longest speaking time at a full hour. She is considered a top successor candidate, especially after Chief Operating Officer Jennifer Piepszak said she would not be seeking the top job.
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. UnitedHealth — The health insurer’s stock popped roughly 7% as investors scooped up shares of the beaten-down name, which lost 23% last week. UnitedHealth had suspended its 2025 guidance, announced that its CEO is stepping down and is reportedly the subject of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation . Reddit — Shares of the social media stock dropped more than 4% following a downgrade to equal weight from overweight at Wells Fargo. The firm said search traffic disruptions at Reddit are likely to become lasting as Google’s search integrates full artificial intelligence capabilities. Tesla , Palantir — Shares of retail investor favorites Tesla and Palantir each slid more than 3% as key tech stocks led Monday’s stock market losses. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals — Shares of the drugmaker dropped about 1% after the company announced it had agreed to pay $256 million to buy most of the assets of genetic data company 23andMe out of bankruptcy. Regeneron’s deal does not include Lemonaid Health, 23andMe’s telehealth subsidiary. Bath & Body Works — Shares ticked 1% lower after the personal care retailer said CEO Gina Boswell would step down immediately. The company said former Nike executive Daniel Heaf would replace her. Alibaba — U.S.-listed shares of the Chinese e-commerce giant traded 1% lower after the New York Times reported that the Trump administration has raised concerns about Apple’ s plan to use Alibaba’s A.I. on iPhones in China. TXNM Energy — Shares of the energy company popped 7% after TXNM agreed to be acquired by Blackstone’s infrastructure unit. TXNM Energy shareholders will receive $61.25 in cash for each share as part of the deal. — CNBC’s Alex Harring, Jesse Pound and Michelle Fox contributed reporting.
Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of Klarna, speaking at a fintech event in London on Monday, April 4, 2022.
Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg via Getty Images
Klarna saw its losses jump in the first quarter as the popular buy now, pay later firm applies the brakes on a hotly anticipated U.S. initial public offering.
The Swedish payments startup said its net loss for the first three months of 2025 totaled $99 million — significantly worse than the $47 million loss it reported a year ago. Klarna said this was due to several one-off costs related to depreciation, share-based payments and restructuring.
Revenues at the firm increased 13% year-over-year to $701 million. Klarna said it now has 100 million active users and 724,00 merchant partners globally.
It comes as Klarna remains in pause mode regarding a highly anticipated U.S. IPO that was at one stage set to value the SoftBank-backed company at over $15 billion.
Klarna put its IPO plans on hold last month due to market turbulence caused by President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff plans. Online ticketing platform StubHub also put its IPO plans on ice.
Prior to the IPO delay, Klarna had been on a marketing blitz touting itself as an artificial intelligence-powered fintech. The company partnered up with ChatGPT maker OpenAI in 2023. A year later, Klarna used OpenAI technology to create an AI customer service assistant.
Last week, Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said the company was able to shrink its headcount by about 40%, in part due to investments in AI.