Bridgewater Retreats From China, Shifts Billions Into US Mega-Cap Tech

Bridgewater Associates exited its holdings in U.S.-listed Chinese companies in the second quarter, signaling a decisive retreat as geopolitical tensions and shifting sentiment darkened the outlook for the world’s second-largest economy.

According to its August 13 13F filing, the hedge fund sold positions in 16 Chinese stocks worth $1.41 billion, including e-commerce giants Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA), JD.com (NASDAQ:JD), and PDD Holdings (NASDAQ:PDD), search engine Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU), electric vehicle maker Nio (NYSE:NIO), travel platform Trip.com Group (NASDAQ:TCOM), and restaurant chain Yum China (NYSE:YUMC).

Bridgewater also closed its indirect exposure to China by selling ETFs like the iShares MSCI China ETF (NASDAQ:MCHI) and iShares China Large-Cap ETF (NYSE:FXI).

Also Read: Alibaba, Nio Lead Gains As US And China Extend Trade Truce

Shares of Alibaba, Baidu, PDD, Nio, Li Auto (NASDAQ:LI), and XPeng (NYSE:XPEV) all dropped in premarket trading as investors turned jittery. JD.com traded upwards, backed by its upbeat second-quarter results.

The sell-off also included TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL), H World Group (NASDAQ:HTHT), KE Holdings (NYSE:BEKE), and Autohome (NYSE:ATHM), eliminating Bridgewater’s direct exposure to U.S.-traded Chinese equities for the first time in years.

The move came just months after the fund dramatically boosted its Alibaba stake in the first quarter by more than 3,360% to $748.4 million from $21.6 million.

The retreat coincided with renewed tariff tensions between Washington and Beijing. On Monday, the two governments extended their trade truce by 90 days, narrowly averting a tariff hike.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order pausing new duties until November 10, while China reciprocated, keeping existing tariffs, 30% on Chinese imports to the U.S. and 10% on U.S. goods to China, in place. The extension, following earlier threats of duties above 100%, temporarily cools a dispute that had intensified earlier this year.

The hedge fund shifted capital into U.S. tech stocks, raising its Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) stake by 154% to 4.61% of its portfolio, and significantly boosting holdings in Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) (+112%), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (+84%), and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) (+90%), SCMP reported on Thursday.

As of June 30, Bridgewater disclosed 585 positions worth $24.8 billion in public equities, up from $21.6 billion in the first quarter.

Read Next:

• Beijing Asks Alibaba, ByteDance Why They Need Nvidia H20 Chips Instead Of Local Alternatives

Photo via Shutterstock