By Li Jianwei, Research Institute for Public Administration and Human Resources, DRC & Li Jiaqi, Economics of Duke University

Research Report, Special Issue, No.51, 2018 (Total 1618) 2018-12-19

Abstract: Chinese and American stock markets have quite different characteristics. China’s stock market has a high turnover rate, strong speculative sentiments and high volatility featured by a short phase of bullish market scenario and a long phase of bearish market scenario. On the contrary, the US stock market is relatively stable and has a long phase of bullish market performance and a short phase of bearish market performance. These different operation characteristics are determined by different regulatory systems and composition of investors. The regulatory system of American stock market is more mature and sound, investors are mainly institutions, and stock index fluctuations are mainly driven by companies’ performance and their profit-earning capacity. While the regulatory system of China’s stock market is still in the process of improvement and development, investors are mainly individuals, and stock index fluctuations are mainly fueled by valuation changes. The financing scale of China’s stock market keeps expanding and the role of optimizing capital allocation is becoming enhanced. The number of listed companies continues to increase, but in terms of total market value of listed companies and securitization rate of the economy, the gap between China and the U.S. is constantly widening. The industrial structure of listed companies in China and the U.S. basically reflects the differences of economic structure and economic development stage between the two countries. There are still many weak links in China’s stock market and a large room for improvement. To facilitate the sustained, stable and healthy development of China’s stock market, we need to deepen reform, and further improve the operation mechanism of stock market while improving the regulatory system.

Key words: China’s stock market, the US stock market, comparative analysis