While many commentators fell into a tizzy after Wednesday's news that China's economy grew "only" 7 percent last quarter, the slowest rate since 2009, legendary investor Jim Rogers hasn't lost any confidence in the world's second largest economy.
"I pay no attention to those numbers," he tells
Yahoo.
"Most governments make up the numbers. The idea that the Chinese government could have any clue about what's going on in China is a little mind boggling to me. I'm sure [the numbers are] in the right direction, but whether it's 3 percent or 9 percent, I have no idea."
Bottom line, Rogers says: "China continues to grow, continues to boom."
He compares China's development with the United States.
"We rose to power and glory in the 19th century, despite a horrible Civil War, 15 depressions, very few human rights, little rule of law, massacres in the street, and yet we became a pretty successful country in the 20th century," Rogers notes. "That's my view of China."
He acknowledges that China's stock market is "beginning to form a bubble." But again comparing China with the United States, "if you sold your American stocks in 1915, you might have looked smart for a while, but you would've looked pretty foolish over the next 80 years," Rogers explains.
Count
CNBC commentator Ron Insana as one who's concerned about overvalued stocks in China.
"Everyone, these days, is looking for a bubble here in the U.S.," Insana writes in a commentary for CNBC. "But it may be more wise to look overseas — to China."
When it comes to Chinese stocks, they're "shooting up like bottle rockets, lifted, in large part, by individual investors," he says. And we're all aware that the excitement of retail investors often signals an overvalued market.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng China Enterprises stock Index hit a four-year high this week and has soared 21 percent so far this year.
"The speculative excesses on display in China, including a 165-foot tall statue of a bull at the Shenzhen Exchange, is reminiscent of the heady days of individual investors chasing the hot stocks of the 1990s, here at home," Insana writes.
© 2025 Newsmax Finance. All rights reserved.