Is China following Japan's economy and stock market?

China is dealing with deflation and an unappealing stock market. Is it following in the footsteps of Japan?

Night on Beijing Central Business district buildings skyline, China cityscape
(Image credit: ispyfriend)

Chinese markets are stuck in “limbo”, say Abhishek Vishnoi and Winnie Hsu on Bloomberg. Fund managers complain the shares lack both “the vigour of an emerging market and the stability of a developed one”. The benchmark CSI 300 index is down more than 6% this year, leaving it on course for a fourth successive annual loss. Since a 2021 peak, roughly “$6.5 trillion has been wiped out from Chinese and Hong Kong” shares – the value of Japan’s entire stock market

While much of the world struggles with inflation, China has been battling the opposite problem, says Jacky Wong in The Wall Street Journal. On one measure, the GDP deflator (the gap between nominal and real GDP growth), the world’s second-largest economy has “already been in deflation for five straight quarters”. Falling prices can harm growth, with consumers holding off purchases for hope of cheaper deals ahead. 

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Markets editor

Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019. 

Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere. 

He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful. 

Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.