China’s strong economic growth has made it a hot prospect for investors of all types, and after a trip to China in October, we are among those who have seen the growth potential firsthand and are now watching major Chinese stocks more carefully. (See an earlier blog entry for my comments on China’s construction and overall boom.)
But the investment route looks like it will continue to be rough and rocky to profit from Chinese “opportunities” even in well-established companies, not to mention the new companies now open to public investment.
PetroChina, for example, the big energy company, was above $260 as recently as Oct. 31, even after that astute investor Warren Buffet dumped all of his shares, but the company has since plunged to a low below $185, shot back above $205 and then sagged again to near $190 Thursday. China Mobile, the telecom giant, went from above $100 on Oct. 31 to near $80, back to $93 and then down again.
Of course, U.S. share prices such as the retail stocks I also wrote about in an earlier blog entry have also had their share of gyrations. For example, Sears Holdings fell from a close at $134.79 on Oct. 31 to lows around $120, jumped more than $6.50 in two days and fell back $9 to new lows in the last two days.
Not to mention the stock indexes. Maybe I should stick with something more stable . . . like soybean futures.
