To: Al Collard who wrote (505 ) 8/23/2000 7:29:00 PM From: keith massey Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 960 August 16, 2000 Dow Jones Newswires China Starting To Sizzle Dow Jones Newswires HONG KONG -- China is hot again. China-linked shares are surging on the Hong Kong stock market, and hotels all over the country are filling up as foreign businessmen chase investment opportunities created by Beijing's imminent entry into the World Trade Organization. Superlatives are creeping back into investment bankers' reports, like the midsummer declaration by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's Stephen Roach that "China's stars have never seemed in better alignment. China's time is now." Underpinning the enthusiasm is the broadest array of positive economic indicators that China has seen since 1997, when the Asian Crisis helped push it into a deflationary spiral. GDP grew 8.3% on year in the second quarter, bringing growth for the first half of the year to 8.1%. Exports were the main driver, up a sizzling 38% in the first six months to $114.5 billion. Domestic demand also showed signs of rebounding. Retail sales rose 10% in the first half compared with the same period a year earlier, while the consumer price index rose 0.1%. "If you talk to people nowadays, they are more willing to spend," says Yiping Huang, regional economist for Salomon Smith Barney in Hong Kong. "Confidence is picking up." Other positive signs: Power consumption was up in the first half, while factory inventories shrank. And although actual foreign direct investment continued to slide, contracted FDI rose 25% on year to $24.2 billion. Huang and many other economists believe China is finally rebounding from the crisis and could enjoy annual growth of 8%-9% for the next few years.