By Elsa Ohlen

Alibaba and other Chinese stocks fell Monday after China retail sales for April were weaker than expected.

Alibaba stock closed down 3.4% in Hong Kong while its American depository receipts fell 2.3% to $120.68 in early trading Monday.

E-commerce peer JD.com fell 1.1% in Hong Kong while its ADRs fell 1.2% Monday. Temu-owner PDD Holdings ADRs also fell 0.8%.

The Hang Seng Index closed down less than 0.1% Monday.

April retail sales grew 5.1% compared with the same period last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, less than the 5.7% growth predicted by economists surveyed by FactSet.

While softer-than-expected retail sales may have hurt sentiment around retailer stocks, Alibaba was hit with further bad news.

The Trump administration has been scrutinizing Apple's plan to partner with Alibaba to make the Chinese retailer's artificial intelligence available on iPhones in China, the New York Times reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.

There are concerns that such a deal could advance Alibaba's AI capabilities and deepen the iPhone maker's exposure to China's laws and regulations on data protection and censorship, the report said.

Shares of electric-vehicle makers were also falling. NIO, Li Auto and XPeng ADRs dropped between 2.5% and 4.5% in early trading Monday.

Write to Elsa Ohlen at elsa.ohlen@barrons.com

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May 19, 2025 10:13 ET (14:13 GMT)

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