Lana

So companies will likely keep spending on cleaner operations to avoid being caught out by another switch-up, and investors will probably keep backing those playing the long game.

That's it for today.

I'm Lana.

I'll see you tomorrow.

Hey, I'm Lana with your daily brief for Tuesday, February 10th.

Coming up, China celebrated a record trade surplus without filling a single ship.

And Japan's election outcome got the country's stocks and bonds moving.

We'll also check in with Carl to get his answers to your burning questions.

More on the way, but first, a word from Guy at Finimize HQ.

China is well known for filling ships with goods and gadgets, but lately the country's been exporting more of the kind of thing that can't even touch a shipping container.

The digital services category covers all kinds of intangibles, from software and cloud computing to data processing, online platforms, and live streaming.

And China's been selling those things abroad in droves.

Last year, the country more than doubled the gap between those sales and what it buys internationally to hit a record $33 billion.

That's a savvy shift.

See, services are usually stickier sales than physical goods.

Once a customer gets used to watching videos, shopping, and storing data on a platform, it takes a lot to convince them to move.

That means folks tend to stay put for longer, which can lead to more consistent and reliable revenue over time.

To keep that momentum up, Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance are building data centers from Southeast Asia to South America.

That's partly to keep up with fast-growing international demand, but it's also a result of American export curbs on advanced chips.

By hosting more infrastructure outside China, it's much easier for those companies to get a hold of cutting-edge hardware.