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The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index has bounced back in the past few months as investors buy the dip and predict that the worst is behind us for now. The index, which tracks diverse companies in the US, has jumped from a low of $36,627 in April to $41,317 today. So, is this the start of a new bull market or is it still good to sell in May and go away?

Why the Dow Jones Index has surged

The Dow Jones and other American indices have soared recently for four main reasons, including:

The rising odds of talks between the US and China.
Strong corporate earnings growth.
Weak US data that raise the odds of a Federal Reserve pivot.
Strong technicals

The first main reason why the Dow Jones is soaring is that there are signs that the US and China will start talking soon. These talks may push the two to end their virtual embargo as tariffs remain in their triple digits. The US is charging China a 145% tariff, while China is charging 134%.

We reported that China was open to negotiate with the US. And according to the WSJ, the country is considering making an offer on dealing with fentanyl to the US. The US is also considering lowering tariffs at the start of talks.

Further, the Dow Jones Index jumped because of the strong corporate growth. Data shows that the 72% of all companies in the S&P 500 Index have already published their financial results. Of these, the blended earnings growth has been 12.8%, the second-straight quarter of double-digit growth.

Still, analysts believe that these earnings were transitory as they came before the Liberation Day speech that implemented large tariffs. As such, there is a risk that American companies will publish weak results in the coming months.

Weak US data and the Federal Reserve pivot

The Dow Jones Index bounced back after the US published weak economic data. These numbers revealed that the economy contracted a bit in the first quarter as imports surged sharply.

Another report showed consumer confidence tumbled in April, while the core PCE inflation figure dropped sharply.

Therefore, these numbers mean that the Federal Reserve may start its pivot soon. While economists don’t see it slashing rates this week, there is a hope that it will point to a cut in the next meeting in June.

Historically, the Fed tends to cut interest rates when there is a major black swan event such as during the Covid-19 pandemic and the dot-com bubble.

The Dow Jones has also jumped because of the ongoing global stocks jump. Top indices like the Dow Jones, FTSE 100, and CAC 40 have all bounced back lately.

Dow Jones technical analysis

Dow Jones chart by TradingView

The Dow Jones Index has also bounced back because of its strong technicals. It has already jumped above the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA), a sign that it is gaining momentum.

It has jumped above the crucial resistance point at $40,772, the highest swing on April 5. It also rose above the major S/R pivot point of the Murrey Math Lines tool.

Oscillators like the Relative Stregth Index (RSI) and Stochastic have pointed upwards. Therefore, the index will likely continue rising as bulls target the key resistance point at $42,000. A drop below the support at $40,000 will invalidate the bullish outlook.

The post Top reasons the Dow Jones is rising, and next price to watch appeared first on Invezz

Investing

CartelFi hits $1.5m in presale as memecoins move into DeFi

Memecoin markets are evolving, and CartelFi is betting that passive income will be the next wave.

With its presale crossing $1,542,503 in early May, CartelFi is positioning itself as a decentralised finance (DeFi) layer built for meme tokens—assets often known more for their volatility than their utility.

Instead of selling these tokens, CartelFi allows holders to stake them and earn yield through a native token called CARTFI. The platform’s pitch is clear: if meme tokens have value, they should work harder for their holders.

The project runs on Ethereum and offers staking rewards up to 1000% annual percentage yield (APY), far above typical DeFi returns.

While the platform is still pre-launch, the three-month presale format with fixed price increases and structured burns is gaining traction.

In a landscape dominated by speculative meme tokens like Bonk or Dogwifhat, CartelFi’s approach combines meme-driven virality with mechanisms usually found in more serious DeFi protocols.

Not just a meme: DeFi mechanics for idle tokens

Unlike PEPE or WIF, which trade purely on market sentiment, CartelFi introduces staking as its primary use case.

Users can deposit meme coins into fixed-term pools and earn rewards in CARTFI, which is then bought back and partially burned using protocol fees.

This model blends deflationary supply with redistributive rewards—both features aimed at increasing long-term token value.

The project has three staking tiers. The highest-yield option is a six-month lock at a 1000% APY. Four-month and three-month pools offer 250% and 150% APYs, respectively.

Though aggressive, the model is structured to incentivise long-term holding while driving transaction volume through burns.

Platform fees are used to buy CARTFI off the market, and 50% of those tokens are destroyed permanently—reducing supply as usage grows.

A fixed cap and rising presale

CartelFi’s token supply is capped at 1 billion CARTFI. Twenty-five percent is reserved for presale investors, with another 25% earmarked for liquidity and trading incentives post-launch.

The rest is split between ecosystem development, community marketing, staking rewards, and treasury.

The presale began on 8 April 2025 and will end in July. Every 72 hours, the token price rises by 5%—a model intended to reward early entrants. Buyers can use ETH, SOL, BNB, USDC, or USDT to purchase CARTFI.

At the time of writing, CartelFi has already moved through multiple pricing stages and raised over $1.5 million, with further interest expected as centralised exchange listings and staking pools go live in Q3.

How CartelFi compares in today’s market

CartelFi’s entry comes as the memecoin market faces saturation. Coins like Bonk and Dogwifhat exploded in popularity in late 2024, but offered no built-in yield.

WIF remains speculative, and Bonk, despite its community strength, lacks a deflationary supply or utility. CartelFi instead targets that gap—building on the assumption that meme assets are here to stay, and that holders will eventually want more than price speculation.

Compared to traditional DeFi tokens like AAVE or COMP, CartelFi’s model is narrower in scope but more aggressive in its design.

Where blue-chip DeFi platforms offer single- or double-digit APYs, CartelFi makes high-yield staking central to its protocol, with fees recycled into rewards and buybacks.

Whether this translates into long-term sustainability will depend on adoption post-presale, but for now, it presents a novel approach in a crowded market.

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Investing

PepeX price prediction as Berkshire says AI will prove game-changing

Even though AI stocks have taken a significant hit this year due to Trump tariffs and concerns of a looming recession ahead, they remain at the front and centre of all financial debates in 2025.

According to Ajit Jain, the vice chairman of the insurance operations at Berkshire Hathaway, it is beyond doubt that artificial intelligence is going to be a game-changer in the insurance industry.

It will dramatically change the way “we assess risk, we price risk, we sell risk, and then the way we end up paying claims,” he said at the Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting this weekend.

However, Jain confirmed that Berkshire has a habit of being in the “wait and see” mode until the opportunity “crystalizes” – and, therefore, “conscious big-time effort in terms of pouring a lot of money into this opportunity.”

Jain’s remarks suggest he’s convinced that AI is a huge opportunity that will continue to evolve and transform industries not just in the next few months but over the next few years instead.

That’s what makes AI-focused investments like the up-and-coming PepeX and exciting investment opportunity for 2025.

PepeX has an AI story behind it

PepeX advertises itself as the “world’s first AI-powered tokenization launchpad”.

It’s a crypto platform that enables users to tap into the magic of artificial intelligence to launch new memes with greater ease and efficiency than ever before.

More importantly, the use of artificial intelligence lets you automate meme marketing as well and enhances the chances of it going viral.

Eliminating the need for coding skills, PepeX wants to make meme coin launches more accessible, fair, and efficient. It’s a powerful narrative that’s been driving significant interest into the native PepeX meme coin in recent weeks.

PepeX presale has raised more than $1.9 million already. If you’re interested in learning more about PepeX and its native meme coin, click here to visit the project website now.

PepeX may be warming up to an explosive rally

It’s believable that PepeX price will unlock significant further upside moving forward since the meme coin is even yet to list on a crypto exchange.

Once coins go live on an exchange, access to them improves drastically, which historically drives massive interest that ultimately translates to a higher price tag.

Knowing that meme coins, especially ones that have a story behind, tend to offer explosive initial returns, it’s likely that PepeX will rally post-listing in the coming months.

Plus, there are broader crypto tailwinds, including a sharp potential rally in BTC and a further decline in interest rates that could end up benefiting PepeX as well in 2025.

Want to explore ways to participate in PepeX meme coin presale today? Click here to visit its website now.

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Politics

World Press Freedom Day: Release my father Jimmy Lai, who published what China’s leaders did not want to hear

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

George Orwell famously said, ‘If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.’ On World Press Freedom Day, we must remind ourselves of the people who have lost their freedoms fighting for this very right.

My father Jimmy Lai is one such man. He is currently in Stanley maximum security prison in Hong Kong, facing potential life in prison for simply publishing what Chinese authorities do not want to hear.

His story is one of extraordinary transformation and unwavering conviction. Arriving in Hong Kong at age 12 after fleeing Communist China, he began his journey as a child laborer in a clothing factory, enduring hardship and poverty.

Yet, through grit and vision, he rose from factory worker to factory manager, and by 1975, used his savings to purchase a bankrupt garment factory. This bold move laid the foundation for his first major success: Giordano, a clothing chain that grew into an international brand with thousands of employees and stores across Asia.

The 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre marked a turning point for him. Witnessing the brutal suppression of pro-democracy protesters, he redirected his life’s work from business to activism, determined to fight for freedom and human rights in Hong Kong.

In 1995, he founded Apple Daily, a newspaper that quickly became a beacon for free speech and democracy, unafraid to criticize the Chinese Communist Party and expose corruption. My father poured $100 million of his own fortune into the venture, ensuring the paper’s independence and fearless reporting.

His media empire, including Next Magazine and Apple Daily, became a megaphone for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, rallying citizens and challenging the authorities. His outspoken criticism of Beijing and unwavering support for protestors made him a target.

The CCP labeled him a ‘troublemaker,’ and his businesses faced retaliation, including the closure of his Beijing Giordano store after a controversial column. Yet, he never wavered, famously stating, ‘Information is choice and choice is freedom’ using both high-brow and popular content to spread the message of liberty.

His commitment to principle set him apart from other tycoons. While many business leaders in Hong Kong chose silence or compromise, he stood alone, enduring threats, arrests, and ultimately imprisonment for his beliefs. In 2014, he was arrested during the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement protests, and in 2020, as Beijing tightened its grip on Hong Kong, my father was again detained under the draconian National Security Law.

Despite the risks, he refused to flee, choosing to remain in Hong Kong and continue the stand for his beliefs, even as Apple Daily was forced to close, even as he now faces the possibility of the rest of his life behind bars.

My father’s life is a testament to the power of conviction. He is not just a businessman or media mogul – he is a symbol of freedom and hope for many. His outsider status, as an immigrant who never quite fit in, gave him the strength to play by his own rules and challenge the status quo.

Despite his wealth and influence, he remains deeply human – a husband, father and practicing Catholic. We miss his booming voice and boisterous laughter around our dinner table. We long for the day we can again share a meal, again pray together.

Over the past few months, both President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have publicly stated their commitment to securing my father’s freedom, consistent with the president’s prioritizing the release of those wrongly detained abroad. He has secured the release of 14 prisoners since taking office in January.

My father is fortunate to have deep bipartisan support in this country and abroad. The U.S. and the U.K. have called for his immediate and unconditional release, as have the parliaments of Canada and the EU. He has received numerous awards for his courage, and I will receive a Bradley Prize on his behalf on May 29 in Washington. But he remains in prison.

My father is one of 10 journalists who are still being held in Hong Kong’s prisons, some of whom worked for him at Apple Daily. While he may be the most high-profile among them, all of these journalists were fighting for their right to speak truth to power, and to defend their way of life.

Their bravery reminds us that freedom is never guaranteed – it must be fought for, often at great personal cost. My father’s defiance in the face of overwhelming power, his willingness to sacrifice everything for his principles, and his belief in the dignity of every individual make him a genuine hero of our time.

At 77 years old, he has spent the last four years in a maximum-security prison for these beliefs. His legacy endures as a beacon of hope, showing that just one person’s courage can change the course of history.

The end to my father’s story is not yet written. This World Press Freedom Day, I appeal to all who cherish free speech to join our fight to secure my father’s release so he can leave Hong Kong and spend his old age with his family.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Politics

Pro-Gaza candidates elected despite gender segregation, antisemitism controversies

A small English town north of bustling Manchester just saw two controversial pro-Gaza candidates flip seats held by the mainstream Labour Party. Both candidates ran as independents in the May 1 local elections.

Maheen Kamran, 18, won the Burnley Central East seat on the Lancashire County Council, while Azhar Ali won the position of county councillor for the Nelson East ward. The Telegraph noted that their victories could be part of a growing trend, following a slew of pro-Gaza candidates—including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn—winning seats in last year’s general election.

Ali is a former Labour Party member who was suspended from the party and lost its backing over allegations of antisemitism during an election last year. Labour initially supported Ali after he claimed that Israel ‘allowed’ Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre to occur as a pretext to invade Gaza, according to the BBC. He later apologized for making what he called a ‘deeply offensive, ignorant and false’ claim. Labour withdrew its support for Ali and later suspended him from the party.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews did not accept Ali’s apology, calling his comments ‘disgraceful and unforgivable.’

‘It is clear to us that Mr. Ali is not [apologizing] out of a genuine sense of remorse. Despite what he says in his apology, we do not see how we could possibly engage with him at this time, and we believe other leading Jewish communal groups will feel similarly,’ the organization wrote in a 2024 statement.

Meanwhile, Kamran has taken radical stances of her own. She voted in favor of ending the ‘free mixing’ of Muslim men and women in public spaces.

‘Muslim women aren’t really comfortable with being involved with Muslim men. I’m sure we can have segregated areas, segregated gyms, where Muslim women don’t have to sacrifice their health,’ Kamran told PoliticsHome.

In the same interview, Kamran said she entered politics because she believes there is a ‘genocide’ taking place in Gaza. While critics of Israel’s military actions use the term ‘genocide,’ supporters of the Jewish state often argue that Israel has the capability to destroy Gaza’s population but has chosen not to, thereby disputing the genocide claim.

Ali and Kamran’s victories come as mainstream parties lose influence in local elections. The right-wing populist Reform UK Party saw major gains in the latest election, according to the Telegraph. Meanwhile, despite its control of 10 Downing Street, Labour suffered losses in the recent local elections.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Politics

Family matters: How VP Vance, wife deliver ‘normalcy to the kids in a very abnormal situation’

Vice President JD Vance, Second Lady Usha Vance and their young children are adjusting well to life as the Second Family, with the vice president telling Fox News Digital that they are trying to ‘deliver as much normalcy to the kids in a very abnormal situation.’

Vance sat down for an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital this week.

‘Everyone is adjusting well—they are doing very well,’ Vance said. ‘It’s different, right?’

‘My seven-year-old son Ewan, he’s adjusting, but he’s also aware of all of it,’ Vance said.

‘And then we have our five-year-old son, Vivek, who I think is a little bit less aware of it,’ Vance continued. ‘To him, it’s just fun. He has a bunch of Secret Service agents to play with, and he gets to go wherever he wants to, and he really likes that.’

‘And Mirabel, who’s three, has no idea what’s going on,’ Vance said of his youngest.

Vance shared a photo of Mirabel, which he and his wife display in their home in the Naval Observatory, ‘in her pajamas reviewing this Indian troop formation.’

‘It’s so funny—it’s maybe my favorite photo of the entire 100 days that we’ve had so far—it’s very cute,’ Vance said. ‘So, you sort of see different levels of kids’ understanding of it.’

Vance said the children ‘have a good school situation.’

‘We have good friends here, and they spend a lot of time at the White House,’ Vance said.

‘Of course, our primary residence—we still have our home in Cincinnati—but our primary residence is the Naval Observatory,’ Vance said. ‘It’s very isolated, so it’s nice, because, for the kids, it’s not like growing up in a fishbowl.’

Vance said the children ‘have a lot of room to run around.’

‘There aren’t cameras everywhere, and it feels very, very private—very normal for the kids—which is all we could ask for,’ Vance said.

As for his wife, Vance said ‘each second lady approaches the role differently—there’s not like, a manual that says—this is how you will be second lady.’

‘I think what Usha has done is she has focused on some issues she cares about and she is very involved in the Kennedy Center—she really likes the arts and that is a project that she’s taken on,’ Vance explained, adding that she plans to ‘take on additional projects.’

‘But she also is a mom,’ Vance said. ‘And the kids are really young, and she saw this as an opportunity to try to deliver as much normalcy to the kids in a very abnormal situation.’

He added: ‘But she’s doing well, and she really likes it—I think the role suits her and she’s having fun. She’s amazing.’

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

World

S&P 500 Index: Time to sell the SPY ETF in May and go away?

The S&P 500 index and its ETFs like SPY and VOO have bounced back in the past few weeks as investors buy the dip and bet that the worst is now behind us. After crashing to a low of $480 in April, the S&P 500 Index has jumped to $560, and is targeting the all-time high of $610. This article explains why one should not sell in May and go away, as the old saying suggests.

SPY ETF has numerous catalysts in May

Selling the S&P 500 Index in May and going away is risky because it has numerous catalysts that may push it higher this month.

The first catalyst comes from an unlikely source: the weak US economic data. Numbers released this week sent a red alert on the state of the American economy as Donald Trump’s trade war starts to bite.

It started on Tuesday when the US published weak consumer confidence report. According to the Conference Board, consumer confidence dropped to 87, the lowest level in years as many of them expressed worries about inflation and the labor market.

On the following day, the US published weak trade numbers that revealed that the trade deficit surged to a record high as companies rushed to buy ahead of tariffs.

Further data showed that the private sector added just 61,000 jobs in April, missing the expected figure by far. More numbers revealed that the economy contracted by 3% in the first quarter.

While these numbers were all bad, they are good news for the stock market as they will trigger a reaction from the Federal Reserve and Donald Trump. Historically, the Fed reacts to major black swan events by cutting interest rates and implementing quantitative easing (QE).

Therefore, the Fed will likely start pivoting in the coming months, which will boost the stock market.

Trump and China talks

The other reason not to sell the S&P 500 Index in May is that there are signs that the US and China will start negotiations on trade.

Donald Trump has signaled that he will be ready to talk with China. And the WSJ has reported that he will be ready to make his first offer of cutting his 145% tariff to 50% at the start of talks.

On Friday, Beijing also said that it was assessing the possibility of trade talks with the United States. Such a move would end the stalemate that has been there in the past 30 days.

While a deal will not come soon, signs of negotiations will be welcome by investors and push them higher in the coming months. An OCBC analyst warned that there will be volatility along the way, saying:

“The high level of reciprocal tariffs on China is not sustainable, so the market expects the US and China to start negotiating at some point. The beginning of negotiations will likely drive market volatility again because it is not expected to be plain sailing.”

S&P 500 Index technical analysis

S&P 500 Index chart by TradingView

The weekly chart shows that the S&P 500 Index bottomed at $482 in April, and has bounced back to $560. It has jumped above the 100-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA), while the Relative Strength Index (RSI) has pointed upwards.

Therefore, the index will likely continue rising this month. If this happens, the next point to watch will be at $610, the highest point earlier this year. A move above that level will point to more gains towards $700.

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Investing

Reddit is attracting ad dollars: will RDDT shares rally further in 2025?

Reddit Inc. (NASDAQ: RDDT) is strongly positioned to extend its gains further over the next few weeks, according to JPMorgan senior analyst Doug Anmuth.

Reddit shares have already rallied some 40% since early April, but an upbeat quarterly release the forum social media platform posted this week will sustain momentum moving forward, Anmuth says.

In the first quarter, the NYSE-listed firm earned 13 cents on a per-share basis (adjusted) – well above the 2 cents per share that experts had forecast.

At $392 million, RDT’s revenue also topped Street estimates by about $22 million in its fiscal Q1.

Reddit shares have upside to $145 in 2025

JPMorgan recommends owning Reddit stock at current levels as the San Francisco-headquartered firm continues to grow its daily active users at an accelerated pace.

DAUs were up another 31% in Q1, which brought sufficient confidence to Doug Anmuth in raising his price target on RDT shares to $145, since a fast-growing user base is attracting significant ad dollars to Reddit in 2025.

“Reddit continues to execute well and capture share of advertiser budgets,” he told clients in a research note this week.

Note that Reddit shares are down some 45% versus their year-to-date high at the time of writing.

RDT is well-positioned to grow its profit and revenue

According to the JPMorgan analyst, shares of the social media company could extend gains as its management continues to introduce new features like the AI-enabled Reddit Answers.

All in all, the San Francisco-based firm is strongly positioned to continue growing its profit and revenue, which may help unlock significant further upside in its share price in the months ahead.

Note that Doug Anmuth’s upwardly revised price target on RDT stock translates to about 20% upside from current levels.

However, the social news aggregation platform does not currently pay a dividend and is, therefore, not a suitable pick for income investors in 2025.

Reddit issued upbeat guidance for its fiscal Q2

Investors could also take heart in the fact that Reddit, earlier this week, issued upbeat guidance for the current quarter at a time when tariffs and the related macro uncertainty are keeping others cautious at best.

RDT expects its revenue to fall in the range of $410 million to $430 million in Q2, handily above the $396 million that analysts had called for.

More importantly, the company’s chief executive, Steve Huffman, said in his letter to shareholders that Reddit is well-positioned to weather the ongoing macro uncertainty, adding, “We’ve grown through challenging times before – people need connection and information just as much in uncertain times.”

Note that other Wall Street firms agree with JPM on RDT shares, given the consensus rating on Reddit stock currently sits at “overweight”.

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Investing

Bezos to sell up to $4.75B in Amazon stock: here’s what investors need to know

Jeff Bezos, the founder and former chief executive of Amazon, has disclosed plans to sell up to $4.75 billion worth of shares in the e-commerce giant over the next 12 months, according to regulatory filings released Friday.

The planned sale of up to 25 million shares, set under a pre-arranged trading plan, will run through the end of May 2026.

Based on Thursday’s closing price of $190 per share, the stake amounts to roughly $4.75 billion.

Bezos, who stepped down as Amazon’s chief executive in 2021, still owns well over a billion shares and remains one of the company’s largest shareholders.

The disclosure arrived just hours after Amazon warned that its financial outlook could be clouded by the uncertainties surrounding global trade tensions, especially under the renewed threat of tariffs.

Company executives said in an earnings call Thursday evening that second-quarter net sales and operating income may fall short of Wall Street expectations.

Bezos diversifies focus toward space and media

Bezos’s planned share sale follows over $13.4 billion in stock offloaded in 2024 alone—a year that saw Amazon’s market value surge past $2 trillion on the back of investor enthusiasm over artificial intelligence.

The world’s second-richest person has increasingly focused on his space exploration company, Blue Origin, as well as The Washington Post, the US newspaper he owns.

While Blue Origin does not release public financials, people familiar with its operations estimate its costs exceed $2 billion annually.

Bezos remains its sole shareholder and has used proceeds from Amazon stock sales to fund its operations.

More recently, Bezos has also made headlines for a political pivot.

Once a vocal critic of Donald Trump, calling him a “threat to democracy,” the Amazon founder has since made efforts to rebuild the relationship.

He reportedly met Trump multiple times over the past year and attended the former president’s second inauguration with his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez.

Within the Washington Post, Bezos has directed a renewed editorial focus on themes such as free markets and personal liberty, moves that have coincided with a loss of subscribers and staff departures.

Bezos has also continued to finance philanthropic ventures, including the Day One Fund.

In March, he donated shares worth about $60 million to an unnamed non-profit, according to filings.

Despite the share sales, Bezos maintains a significant stake in Amazon and influence over its direction, even as the company navigates a more volatile geopolitical and economic landscape.

Amazon flags uncertainty in trade environment

Amazon’s chief executive, Andy Jassy, and chief financial officer, Brian Olsavsky, repeatedly cited “uncertainty” during the earnings call, a term that appeared 11 times in the transcript, according to data provider FactSet.

In contrast, the word had not appeared in either of the past two quarterly calls.

Jassy told analysts that while Amazon had not yet seen any slowdown in demand, the potential for tariffs to alter consumer behaviour and inflate costs remained a major concern.

“None of us know exactly where tariffs will settle or when,” he said, adding that the company’s vast product selection might help it weather volatility better than some peers.

Olsavsky echoed this caution, saying the company’s second-quarter guidance included a wider-than-usual range due to tariff-related uncertainty and broader concerns around consumer spending.

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Investing

Xpeng EV deliveries soar 273% in April; BYD leads with over 370,000 units sold

Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers posted diverging sales trajectories in April, with Xpeng marking the strongest year-on-year growth among major players.

The company delivered 35,045 EVs last month, a 273% surge from April 2023, extending its streak of monthly deliveries above 30,000 units.

Meanwhile, industry heavyweight BYD led the market in terms of volume, selling over 370,000 passenger cars during the same period, reaffirming its dominance in the global EV landscape.

The delivery data from April underscores the intensifying competition across China’s EV sector, with some brands accelerating on product innovation and global expansion, while others face monthly setbacks due to market saturation, supply chain challenges, or safety concerns.

Xpeng and Leapmotor accelerate amid new launches

Xpeng’s April performance was bolstered by the rollout of its upgraded flagship model, the X9, which starts at 359,800 yuan ($49,482).

The company has kept delivery figures above the 30,000 mark for six consecutive months, suggesting a stable pipeline and growing consumer uptake.

Xpeng’s momentum aligns with broader trends in the premium EV segment, where technological differentiation and model refreshes continue to drive sales.

Leapmotor, another fast-growing rival, came close to its all-time monthly high by delivering 41,039 vehicles.

Although it did not surpass its December 2024 record of 42,517 units, the firm remains one of the top challengers to legacy EV brands, leveraging affordability and localised offerings to maintain demand.

BYD widens its global lead with record overseas shipments

BYD extended its lead with 372,615 passenger vehicles sold in April, up 45.09% from the previous year. The company shipped 79,086 units overseas, beating its March record of 72,723, in line with its ambition to strengthen its global presence.

The company unveiled five new models at the Shanghai Auto Show, held between April 23 and May 2.

With an expansive portfolio spanning hybrids, pure EVs, and premium segments, BYD’s strategy appears focused on breadth and aggressive export growth, particularly across Southeast Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

Nio and Li Auto show mixed results

Nio saw a partial rebound in April, delivering 19,269 vehicles for its main brand, compared to 10,219 in March. However, its sub-brand Onvo reported a month-on-month dip, delivering 4,400 units versus 4,820 in March.

Firefly, Nio’s compact EV brand, officially launched its namesake model on April 19. Deliveries began on April 29, totalling 231 units based on publicly available figures.

Li Auto, which recently dominated the extended-range EV niche, recorded a delivery drop in April to 33,939 units from 36,674 in March. Despite the sequential dip, the company still posted a 31.6% increase compared to April 2023, indicating continued long-term growth momentum.

Safety concerns cloud Xiaomi’s rise

Xiaomi delivered more than 28,000 units in April, a slight fall from the previous month’s record of over 29,000. The slowdown follows an SU7 crash in early April that resulted in three fatalities. The incident sparked heightened scrutiny of EV safety protocols.

In response, industry attention at the Shanghai Auto Show shifted toward enhanced safety technologies.

Nomura analysts, in an April 28 note, stated that carmakers are now prioritising the integration of Lidar (light detection and ranging) sensors to improve advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).

This shift suggests a broader push toward regaining consumer trust and complying with tightening safety regulations.

Other players face delivery headwinds

Geely-owned Zeekr saw April deliveries fall to 13,727 vehicles, down from 15,422 in March and a 14.7% year-on-year drop. The company’s performance highlights the uneven demand for mid-tier EVs, especially amid fierce competition and evolving buyer preferences.

As automakers navigate economic pressures and consumer demand cycles, monthly delivery trends reveal where brand strength, innovation, and global strategy are converging — and where they are not.

With the market entering a critical inflection point, players who fail to adapt may find it difficult to keep pace with growth leaders like BYD and Xpeng.

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