The value of tentative deals we signed during the CIIE also increased from 380 million yuan ($55.48 million) to 1 billion yuan.

我们在进博会期间签署的暂定交易价值也从3.8亿元人民币（5548万美元）增加到10亿元人民币。

A tentative arrangement involving Oracle and Walmart was quickly followed by a US Commerce Department announcement of a one-week delay, until Sunday, on enforcing a US ban on TikTok app downloads.

Liu said tentative deals for one-year purchases of goods and services worth $71.13 billion were reached at the second CIIE, an increase of 23 percent.

But they cautioned that the evidence is tentative, and further research is needed.

Many investors felt CEO Steve Rowe's initial plans for the retailer were too tentative.

"The decision will help Alibaba take another tentative step into the healthcare sector, Liang pointed out.

Yet, in reality, such supportive measures are still tentative and have not fundamentally improved homebuying expectations.

At the fifth edition of the China International Import Expo held last year, $73.52 billion worth of tentative deals were reached for one-year purchases of goods and services, up 3.9 percent yearly.

"During the business trip to Japan, we reached a tentative deal worth more than $4 million with a Japanese enterprise, almost twice our trade volume in 2022," said Tao Jiamu, a company staff member.

Likewise, Anhui Sentai WPC Group Share Co Ltd participated in some industrial exhibitions held in Paris and Dubai, which helped the company receive tentative orders worth about $5 million.

The fifth CIIE, held from Nov 5 to 10, saw a total of $73.5 worth of tentative deals reached for one-year purchases of goods and services.

Despite headwinds, Louise Loo, senior economist at the Oxford Economics think tank, expects the pass-through of recent easing measures and authorities' data-dependent policy loosening in the coming months to support a tentative and bumpy recovery going forward.

"With domestic macro policy settings likely to remain loose as authorities increasingly look to stabilize the economy and the property sector, we expect activity indicators to bottom out and a tentative recovery to gather steam heading into 2023," Loo said.

The fifth China International Import Expo (CIIE) concluded in Shanghai Thursday, with a total of $73.5 billion worth of tentative deals reached for one-year purchases of goods and services.

Exhibitors at the past four CIIEs launched more than 1,500 new products, technologies and services, and clinched tentative deals worth over $270 billion.

The tentative procurement plans of several purchasers, including the National Health Commission and trade missions from Beijing, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Gansu, were also published for the first time.

It had 505 sales talks at its CIIE booth last year, with many leading to tentative sales agreements, Xu said.

As the fourth CIIE concluded Wednesday with $70.72 billion worth of tentative deals reached, many of the participating companies will join the "Double Eleven" festival.

Last year, tentative deals for one-year purchases of goods and services at the CIIE totaled more than $72 billion, up 2.1 percent from the second edition of the expo, despite the impact of the pandemic, according to the CIIE Bureau.

The third China International Import Expo has concluded successfully with tentative deals totaling $72.6 billion, up 2.1 percent from the previous expo.

Policy easing spurs demand and recovery hopes, but rally not yet in sightDespite constant fluctuations in China's troubled housing market, a tentative recovery is taking shape nevertheless, particularly in top-tier cities, on the back of several local-level policy easings — and this will likely lay a solid foundation for the real estate sector's high-quality and sustainable development in the long term, experts said.

Yet the rebound could be tentative with risks lingering.

"Trade jitters between the US and China appear to have moderated with a tentative agreement on the first stage of what both sides hope will be a comprehensive deal.

The deal came after a tentative agreement in February.

The move came on a tumultuous day in which FCA and the government reached a tentative deal on merger terms but it was scuttled later as Renault's board met for six hours outside of Paris.

In this context, it is heartening to note that early this year the two countries took some tentative steps to cooperate in a field that offers huge economic potential－the joint development of electric vehicles.

Data from the MOC showed that at the fifth edition of the CIIE, which attracted enterprises from 127 countries and regions, as well as 69 national governments and international organizations, tentative deals worth 73.52 billion dollars were reached for one-year purchases of goods and services, up 3.9 percent year on year.