Why did JD.com stock go down today? Pessimism on Wall Street trumps Xi pledge
FangXiaNuo/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images
JD.com (NASDAQ:JD) shares fell more than 8% on Thursday as pessimism from Wall Street overshadowed a pledge from Chinese President Xi Jinping to help spur the country's embattled tech sector.
Investment firm Jefferies cut its price target on JD.com (JD) to $80 from $97, noting that revenue growth is likely to remain flat in the coming quarter. JD.com has not yet scheduled third-quarter earnings results but a consensus of analysts expect the company to earn 81 cents per share on $34.74B in revenue.
The gloom on Wall Street overshadowed the call from President Xi, who said there needs to be hastened efforts to make breakthroughs in core technologies.
Xi, while making a speech promoting the development of the Yangtze River economic belt, reiterated the objective of modernizing the Asian country's supply chains, developing advanced manufacturing and strategic emerging industries, Reuters reported.
The Chinese President has stressed the requirement for self-reliance in technology to curtail the use of foreign tech.
Earlier this week, a plan released by ministries, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, showed that China intends to step up efforts to boost its computing power by more than a third in less than three years, aimed at benefiting local suppliers and strengthening technology self-reliance.
In August, U.S. President Joe Biden had signed an executive order to regulate certain U.S. investments in China in three areas â semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies and artificial intelligence.
The U.S. issued final rules in September, which later saw China's international trade council formally requesting the U.S. to "carefully consider" the regulations.
Earlier this month, it was reported that the U.S. is giving China an additional warning that it will update its rules on export controls for semiconductors and related equipment.

More on JD.com

JD.com: Expect Long-Term Economic Overhang To Continue
JD.com: Upgrading To Buy On Valuation
JD.com: Why I'm Buying For The Long Term
Chinese President calls for boosting efforts in core technologies - report
China plans to boost computing power amid AI race to help local firms