What's going on?

Chinese ecommerce giants Alibaba and JD.com reported record Singles� Day sales late last week, as shoppers showed some love to themselves � and the economy.

What does this mean?

Once an excuse for single shoppers to buy themselves gifts, Singles� Day is now the largest shopping event in the world. And during this year�s sale, ecommerce titans Alibaba and JD.com saw the value of the products they sold jump by 8% and 28% respectively, compared to last year. That meant the duo sold a total of around $139 billion worth of goods during the event � a new Singles� Day record for them.

Those sales were no easy feat, mind you: the tech giants were under pressure to adhere to the government�s sustainability drive, and put more effort into green initiatives like recycling and reducing emissions. After all, Singles’ Day isn’t a great match for China’s environmental goals: Greenpeace estimates the shopping event generates tens of thousands of tons of carbon dioxide each year (tweet this).

Why should I care?

The bigger picture: Not so single.
Shopping events like Singles� Day used to run over, well, a single day, but nowadays they often last for much longer. It�s a win-win: retailers get more time to make sales, plus they can manage deliveries and demand better. That�s been especially helpful this year: businesses can struggle to get stock delivered in time for these events during normal times, and current supply shortages will only have made matters worse.

For markets: China wants a rebound.
China reported worse-than-expected economic growth last quarter, sparking worries that consumer spending might be taking a hit. But this record-breaking Singles� Day suggests people are spending like there’s no tomorrow, which might be why an index tracking US-listed Chinese companies jumped more than 5% after the news. And sure, that index is still down 26% this year after government crackdowns hurt Chinese businesses, but investors are hopeful this could be a sign of a turnaround.