New York, Feb 7, 2026, 14:27 EST — Market is closed.
- Alibaba shares trading in the U.S. finished Friday at $162.51, up 3%.
- Chinese media pointed to a Qwen app giveaway as the trigger for a spike in downloads, which led to service outages.
- Alibaba’s results are expected Feb. 19, with traders keeping an eye on that date as China’s Spring Festival holiday runs Feb. 15-23.
Alibaba Group Holding’s U.S. ADRs finished Friday up 3%, settling at $162.51 after swinging between $158.44 and $162.87 during the session. The ADR structure allows U.S. investors to hold a stake in the foreign-listed company through New York trading.
Tech stocks snapped back, riding a broad rebound after investors rotated into chipmakers and AI plays—this just days after jitters around data-center spending hit the sector. “There’s real demand for AI products,” Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird, said. 1
Alibaba’s latest consumer AI move in China drew focus this Friday as its Qwen app started handing out free offers—including bubble tea, according to the South China Morning Post. More than 10 million free orders went out in just nine hours, totaling 250 million yuan ($36 million), Qwen’s team said on its official Weibo. That spike in activity sent Qwen soaring to the top spot on Apple’s China App Store, knocking Tencent’s Yuanbao below it. 2
Caixin Global said Qwen’s systems buckled under the surge, leaving would-be users cut off from the service. The first leg of Alibaba’s “Chinese New Year Treat Plan” featured a 25-yuan milk tea voucher, good at over 300,000 drink shops across the country—chains like Heytea, Nayuki’s Tea, and Luckin were among the participants. 3
The giveaway spree isn’t stopping with Alibaba. Baidu on Monday announced plans to buy back as much as $5 billion worth of shares over two years and committed to an annual dividend capped at 10% of net income. That’s happening even as Baidu and peers remain deep in a spending push to pull in more users for their AI apps before the holiday season. 4
Even so, there are risks on the horizon. Markets have been quick to react when AI and cloud outlays threaten to outpace revenue growth, a pressure point for the sector. “If big tech and AI lose more momentum, the S&P 500 will see more pressure,” said Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial. 5
Alibaba’s earnings are up next. The company is scheduled to release its quarterly report on Feb. 19, per Yahoo Finance’s earnings calendar. 6
This year, timing is crucial: China’s official Spring Festival holiday stretches from Feb. 15 to 23, packing travel and spending into a longer-than-usual break. For platforms chasing app installs and orders, that’s a prime marketing window. 7
Alibaba isn’t limiting Qwen to chatbot basics. Back in January, the company introduced updates enabling the app to handle tasks like booking travel and ordering food delivery, Reuters reported. The move adds more consumer “agent” capabilities, integrating Qwen further into Alibaba’s broader commerce and services platform. 8
As markets kick off Monday, traders are weighing weekend chatter about Qwen outages and the sheer size of the giveaway. Both could sway opinions on Alibaba’s AI ambitions—or just stir up fresh doubts about how much it’s spending on marketing. Looking ahead, the focus shifts to guidance coming with results on Feb. 19.
