Why Alibaba Stock Dropped Today

Stock of Alibaba Group Holding (NYSE: BABA), the Chinese e-commerce giant, plunged in early trading Friday.

The stock is down 4.9% at 10:45 a.m. ET, in response to a Wall Street Journal report that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has added Alibaba's AliExpress website to its list of "notorious markets" known for selling counterfeit goods.    

Actually, some 42 online marketplaces (and 35 physical ones) are now on this USTR list, which warns against sellers profiting from "counterfeit goods or copyright piracy" -- but on this list, Alibaba is arguably the biggest name. It's certainly better known than, say, such immediately fishy-sounding website names as "1Fichier," "Dytt8," and "Popcorn time."

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Source Fool.com