PDD - Baidu Alibaba JD.com pop as China considers $220B stimulus to boost economy: report

Baidu ( NASDAQ: BIDU ), Alibaba ( NYSE: BABA ) and JD.com ( NASDAQ: JD ) jumped on Thursday as Bloomberg reported that China is considering letting local governments sell up to $220B in bonds aimed at infrastructure spending to boost the economy.

The news outlet, citing people familiar with the discussions, noted that this would be the first time bonds are sold before the start of the year. Additionally, the $220B or 1.5 trillion yuan in sales would come from next year's quota.

The country has also said it would maintain its efforts to boost car sales.

Separately on Thursday, Hong Kong said that it would suspend its flight ban if the planes carried passengers infected with COVID-19, citing "peak season" for overseas students  returning to the country, according to the South China Morning Post .

Baidu ( BIDU ) shares gained nearly 3.5% in mid-day trading, as did Alibaba ( BABA ). Other Chinese listed ADRs also rose on the news, including Pinduoduo ( PDD ), which rose 1%. JD.com ( JD ) and Kingsoft Cloud Holdings ( KC ) both gained nearly 3%, while Bilibili ( BILI ) surged nearly 7%.

The KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF ( KWEB ) also rose sharply, tacking on nearly 3%.

Chinese game developer NetEase ( NTES ) bucked the trend and was fractionally lower.

On Wednesday, investment firm UBS raised its price target on Alibaba ( BABA ) to $140 from $130, noting the company's business showed some signs of recovery in June and there is "more to come" in the second half of this year .

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