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Hi Reader, here's what you need to know for August 5th in 3:07 minutes.

🍹 Finimized with an Cornish ginger beer at Fat Apples Cafe in Cornwall, UK (☀️ 24°C / 75°F)

Today's big stories

Alibaba’s drop-off in quarterly revenue wasn’t too dramatic, all things considered
One of the biggest events in crypto is right around the corner, so should you buy in while you still can? – Read Now
The Bank of England raised interest rates by the most since 1995

A-Ma-zing

What’s Going On Here?

Alibaba reported better-than-expected results on Thursday.

What Does This Mean?

Here’s the good thing about Alibaba: it’s so big that at least one part of its business is bound to flourish come rain, shine, or government-mandated lockdown. This time, it was Taocaicai that came into its own, with the value of transactions on the fresh food platform booming more than 200% last quarter from the same time last year. And even though the rest of Alibaba’s ecommerce segment had a slow April and May, it recovered in June thanks in part to China’s annual shopping festival. The company’s cloud computing business made the best of a tough few months too, posting a 10% uptick in sales even as the government cracked down on multiple online industries. So while Alibaba’s revenue did fall marginally, investors knew it could’ve been much worse, and they sent its US-listed stock up 6%.

Why Should I Care?

Zooming in: Change of plan.
This was Alibaba’s first drop in revenue on record, but analysts don’t necessarily think it’ll become a habit. For one thing, Alibaba has recently promised to invest more in areas that are good for long-term growth. And for another, the Chinese government has realized it’ll need to let up on its anti-tech crusade and boost economic support if it wants to achieve its increasingly unrealistic growth targets.

The bigger picture: SoftBank runs for the hills.
The US has threatened to delist a host of Chinese companies from its stock market after they failed to stick to its disclosure rules. And it’s just added Alibaba to the line-up, which puts the company in a tight spot: a delisting would force some funds to sell its stock, which would send its share price tumbling. SoftBank doesn’t want to hang around to see that happen: the investment giant has reportedly started selling “forward contracts” that could see it dramatically reduce its stake in Alibaba over the next few years.

You might also like: Is SoftBank right to bail on ‘baba?

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Analyst Take

Will The Transition To Proof-Of-Stake Help Or Hinder Ether’s Price?

By Jonathan Hobbs, Analyst

Ether has rallied three times as much as bitcoin since mid-June, shooting up 85% in value.

That might have something to do with the fact that the network is doing away with mining altogether in mid-September, going from a proof-of-work blockchain to a proof-of-stake.

The event – dubbed “the merge” – will be one of the biggest ever seen in crypto, but a big question remains: what effect will it have on the cryptocurrency’s price?

As far as I see it, there are three reasons the merge might work in the crypto’s favor, and three reasons it might not.

So that’s today’s Insight: whether you should buy into ether before the merge.

Read or listen to the Insight here

And this year’s top stocks are…

Louis Navellier’s a dab hand at spotting the stocks that are ready to rally.

Just check out his track record: his algorithm found Apple at $1.49, Microsoft at $0.38, and Cisco at $0.47.

And it just so happens that Navellier’s finished picking his top stock picks for this year, and he’s ready to share them with you for free.

Discover Louis Navellier’s top stock picks for free today.

Download The Report

Please see important disclosures here.