, Columnist
China’s Nifty Fifty Is Feeling a Bit Iffy
The country’s investors are focused on a shortlist of companies — let’s call them the Beautiful 20 — but the situation isn’t pretty.
Fear of falling
Photographer: GREG BAKER/AFPThis article is for subscribers only.
China’s stock traders don’t care much about history, but lately, they’ve been obsessed with the U.S.’s roaring early 1970s, worried that its unpleasant end may repeat in Shanghai and Shenzhen.
They have been looking at the era of the Nifty Fifty, a group of premier high-flying growth stocks such as Xerox Corp., International Business Machines Corp., Polaroid Holding Co. and Coca-Cola Co., In December 1972, the Nifty Fifty were so well-loved that, on average, they traded at 41.9 times earnings, compared to the S&P 500’s 18.9 times. They came crashing to earth in the vicious 1973-1974 bear market.