US markets closed sharply higher on Thursday, with all three major indices posting solid gains. Strong earnings from the retail sector yesterday boosted investor sentiment and soothed fears about a potential recession. Meanwhile, Chinese tech stocks also rallied after strong earnings from Alibaba and Baidu. Here are the week’s top headlines. Alibaba US-listed shares of Alibaba Group rose 14.8% on Thursday after the Chinese tech giant reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates. For the January to March quarter, revenue rose 9%. Although that represented the firm’s slowest pace of growth since going public in 2014, the result reassured investors worried about the impact of China’s COVID lockdowns. For the fiscal year, Alibaba saw 1.31 billion annual active consumers on its platforms, including over 1 billion customers in China. However, the company refrained from offering any revenue forecast for the year, citing COVID-19 risks. Many large Chinese cities...