Alibaba $BABA jumps nearly 10% as China AI trade rotates higher

Alibaba $BABA rose nearly 10% in early trading on July 8, according to Investor’s Business Daily. The ADR had already gained more than 8% in premarket trading near $106, putting the move above the finance-crawler threshold for a single-name stock reaction tied to a named catalyst.

The catalyst was a rotation into Chinese AI and internet stocks. IBD reported gains in Baidu and JD.com alongside Alibaba, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rose 4.5%, its largest advance since April 2025. The same session saw South Korea’s KOSPI fall 5% as investors questioned AI-memory momentum, making the China rally a relative-value trade as well as a company-specific move.

The article cited Chinese outlet Jiemian on a possible narrowing of losses in Alibaba’s instant-commerce business while overall profitability remained steady. That matters because $BABA had fallen more than 33% year to date in 2026 after an 80% gain in 2025, with investors pressing the company on whether AI and commerce spending would dilute margins.

The next data points are Alibaba’s June-quarter earnings, cloud and AI revenue growth, instant-commerce loss disclosure, and the spread between the U.S. ADR and Hong Kong ordinary shares. A near-10% move can reset positioning, but the stock was still well below its 52-week high. The rally needs operating numbers, not only AI-sector rotation, to hold.