- In today’s CEO Daily: Diane Brady on Xi Jinping’s turn toward the tech sector.
- The big story: U.S. and Russia in talks on Ukraine.
- The markets: Treading water.
- Analyst notes from Goldman Sachs (on the U.S. economy), Apollo (on GDP), JP Morgan (on U.S.-Europe trade), and Claudia Sahm (on inflation).
- Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.
Good morning. Pay attention to what’s going on in China right now. From the ongoing threat of tariffs to Washington’s apparent backpedaling on Taiwan after an anti-independence line was removed from a U.S. government fact sheet, business sentiment is shifting. Chinese stocks have rallied amid stimulus, buzz about technology innovations like DeepSeek, and the growing global market share of companies like BYD, despite being frozen out of the U.S. market.
The latest sign was President Xi Jinping’s meeting on Monday with Alibaba cofounder Jack Ma and other prominent business leaders such as Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei, DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng, and BYD CEO Wang Chuanfu. Xi told attendees that it’s time to promote a healthy and high-quality private sector. The speech was an important new signal, as Xi previously cracked down on his country’s tech sector, most notably by canceling the 2020 IPO of Alibaba affiliate Ant Group
That made Jack Ma’s presence at Xi’s gathering all the more significant. Once the richest man in China, the cofounder of e-commerce giant Alibaba fell out of favor with Beijing amid a backlash against tycoons. He criticized Chinese regulators weeks before they canceled Ant Group’s IPO and then mysteriously disappeared from the public eye before slowly coming back on the scene last year. Alibaba shares are up 47% since the start of the year.
The overall picture, of course, is complicated. China’s economy continues to struggle and demographic trends are likely to deepen Xi’s challenges in boosting consumption and a shaky property market. While Chinese tech giant Tencent says it’s beta-testing an integration with DeepSeek, DeepSeek is being pulled from markets like South Korea because of data and privacy concerns.
Government support alone doesn’t make for a strong business environment, but it plays a significant role in a state-controlled economy, especially in areas like green energy, manufacturing and tech. If Beijing is truly taking a more pro-business stance, that could impact the competitive landscape as much as tariffs.
More news below.
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady, diane.brady@fortune.com, LinkedIn.
