As China’s markets suffer, what alternatives do investors have?
Optimism about the world’s second-largest stockmarket is a distant memory
![People walk on a bridge in Shanghai showing the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock indices](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20240127_FNP501.jpg)
Some foreign investors in China are most worried by the country’s souring relations with the West. Others fret about the unprecedented slump in its property market. Many are simply tired of losing money. Rumours that officials are considering steps to stabilise the country’s markets may have brought respite in recent days, but over the past year the CSI 300 index of Chinese shares has fallen by 22% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index by 30%.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Escaping the dragon”
Finance & economics January 27th 2024
- Wall Street titans are betting big on insurers. What could go wrong?
- As China’s markets suffer, what alternatives do investors have?
- Investors may be getting the Federal Reserve wrong, again
- What Donald Trump can learn from the Big Mac index
- Why sweet treats are increasingly expensive
- How American states squeeze athletes (and remote workers)
- The false promise of friendshoring
More from Finance & economics
![Solar panels installed on the roof of a building at Skardu in Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan region.](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20250215_FNP002.jpg)
Cheap solar power is sending electrical grids into a death spiral
Pakistan and South Africa provide a warning for other countries
![People walk at Zaryadye park with the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral in the background in Moscow, Russia.](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20250215_FNP502.jpg)
Russian inflation is too high. Does that matter?
In a strong economy, price pressure can endure for a long time
![illustration of a house cut in half diagonally, the lower corner being a bill.](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20250215_FND001.jpg)
Why you should repay your mortgage early
For the first time in decades, the arithmetic suggests settling housing loans
How AI will divide the best from the rest
Optimists hope the technology will be a great equaliser. Instead, it looks likely to widen social divides
The danger of relying on OpenAI’s Deep Research
Economists are in raptures, but they should be careful
Elon Musk is failing to cut American spending
DOGE has so far disrupted everything in government bar the deficit