4/18    http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=000001.SS&t=1y&l=off&z=m&q=l&c=
        I don't get it.  In the space of 1 year, the Shanghai Stock Exchange
        index has gone from 1400 to 3600.  What gives?  Doesn't the central
        government love stability?  Does this mean 3600+ is stable?
        \_ first of all, Shanghai Stock Exchange, like *ALL* Asian stock
           exchange, is not nearly as transparent as NYSE, etc.
           However, recently I've attended a leading Chinese economist.
           He said there are couple reason why stockmarket are high
           - for some reason, average profit margin has increased tremedously
             in past 3-5 years
           - PE Ratio was hover around 15 back in 2005.  Now, it's close to
             35, which is close to NYSE average.  But compare with all other
             Asian stock market's average P/E ratio, Shanghai is actually on
             the low side, which implies there are still a way to go
             \_ This is wrong on a number of counts: first of all, the S&P
                500 P/E is 16, not 35. Secondly, the P/E of most asian
                markets is not over 35. In the Korean borse, it is 10,
                for example. I personally think that the Shanghai market
                is in a bubble, driven by a lack of investment opportunities
                for regular Chinese, but I could be wrong.
           - while raw material prices are on the rise (thanks to US choke on
             energy market), inflation is relatively in checked due to
             stagnant labor cost (see below)
           - while hourly wages has increase something like 30% in past 5
             years, productivity also increase about the same amount. Much
             of the productivity gain (which is probably the highest in the
             world) is due to deregulation and market reform in conjunction of
             IT revolution.
           - China's economy is finally got out of contraction mode and
             start expanding.  Key industries are housing and automobiles
             (great, here goes the Earth)
                \_ Uh, what? Hasn't China's economy grown by 10% or so every
                   year for over a decade?
           - MarketShare/GDP was depressed back in 2005.   I didn't pay
             much attention to this number because I have no idea what does
             number means
        Overall, the economist is relatively optimist about China economy's
        fundamental and therefore he personally didn't think the stock market
        is too high.  Then again, stock market seldem reflects the
        fundamentals.                                   kngharv
        \_ kngharv, do you agree with that economist?
        \_ SSEC down 4.5% today.  But I get it.  China is doing everything
           it can to moderate growth, but investors just can't get enough. -op
           http://tinyurl.com/2w62q8 (reuters.com)
        \_ SSEC down 6.5% today.  Just in time! -op