Fear and hope rise with China's stocks.

• Author: Rees, Matthew
• Position: Just the facts: TIE's Executive News Service - Brief article

"Chinese shares are expensive by almost any measure, including a price-to-earnings ratio of 69 times last year's earnings on the Shanghai market, compared with 18 for the Standard & Poor's 500-stock benchmark index today. The comparable ratio on the S&P was 28 when U.S. markets crashed in 1929 and just 18 at the time of the 1987 plunge, according to Ativo Research LLC. Still, the Chicago-based advisory firm says price-to-earnings ratios peaked at 71 in Japan, 100 in Taiwan and 123...