Executive Summary

April20, 2018

• This week’s note “From the Desk of Deborah Weinswig” discusses what makes Chinese retail unique and what the future of retail could hold, according toexecutives from JD.com and Alibaba who spoke at the World Retail Congress in Madrid this week.
• US retail sales rebounded in March after three straight monthly declines as households boosted purchases of motor vehicles and other big-ticket items, suggesting that consumer spending was heading into the second quarter with some momentum.
• Sinovation Ventures, a Chinese venture capital firm cofounded by the former head of Google China, Kai-Fu Lee, has raised a new, $500 million fund to invest in artificial intelligence (AI) startups in the region.
• Alibaba is now running road tests of autonomous cars on a regular basis, and it has the capabilities for open road trials. The company is also looking to hire 50 more self-driving vehicle specialists for its AI research lab.