Matthew Lynn Matthew Lynn

Investment: stock markets

We’re all Shanghai gamblers now

issue 17 October 2009

We’re all Shanghai gamblers now

You might think yourself a fairly cautious investor. Maybe you dabble in a few shares and unit trusts, probably in major, well-established markets such as the US, Japan or Germany, as well as London. Emerging markets, and in particular the wild frontier that is China, you might reckon best left to professionals. And if you do occasionally take a few exotic punts, you’re very likely to restrict them to 10 per cent or so of your portfolio.

But if you believe your exposure to the great Eastern dragon is modest or negligible, you’re wrong. It turns out that we’re all playing the Shanghai market now. Where once global stock markets took their cues from the Dow Jones or the S&P500, the two big American indices, they are now increasingly led by something called the Shanghai Composite.

Matthew Lynn
Written by
Matthew Lynn
Matthew Lynn is a financial columnist and author of ‘Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis’ and ‘The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031’

Topics in this article

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in