It looks like it. On Monday Jan 21 we have the biggest drop of global stock markets in recent years (see the quoted news below).
I want to talk a little about the Chinese market in specific. It appears to me two pieces of news helped driving the market down. The huge secondary offering of $22 billion from Ping An Insurance (SHA:601318); the talk of starting stock index future market and a Nasdaq-like Market in China after March 2008, by Mr. Cheng Si Wei, Chairman of Finance Committe of National People Congress. 成思危：创业板和股指期货准备工作基本就绪.
But as individual investors I think we should remain calm even in this crazy market. It may be a good idea to get rid of some bubble-priced stocks because we are not going to see that price for a while. Note bubble is relative the intrinsic value of a company, not compared to the previous high price (e.g, VMW, AAPL, N,…are all risky to me).
Quoted news
AP news: stock markets plunge worldwide.
U.S. markets were closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but the downbeat mood from last week’s market declines there circled through Europe, Asia and the Americas. Britain’s benchmark FTSE-100 slumped 5.5 percent to 5,578.20, France’s CAC-40 Index tumbled 6.8 percent to 4,744.15, and Germany’s blue-chip DAX 30 plunged 7.2 percent to 6,790.19.
In Asia, India’s benchmark stock index tumbled 7.4 percent, while Hong Kong’s blue-chip Hang Seng index plummeted 5.5 percent to 23,818.86, its biggest percentage drop since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index on the Toronto Stock Exchange fell 4.8 percent. Brazilian stocks plunged 6.6 percent on the main index of Sao Paulo’s Bovespa exchange, and Argentina’s benchmark Merval index fell 6.3 percent to close under 1,900 for the first time since August 2006…
Chinese
Quoting Jinghua.cn
昨日，承接美国股市上一交易日的连续下跌，欧洲方面的道琼斯斯托克600指数下跌幅度5.6%，为2001年“9·11”恐怖袭击事件以来最大跌幅。德国DAX指数下降6.8%，也达到了2001年来的最大值。法国CAC40指数下跌了5.8%，英国FTSE100指数则下降了4.4%。
在亚洲方面，香港恒生指数较前一个交易日下跌1383．01点，跌幅为5．49%，为六年来最大下跌点数。孟买证券交易所基准的30种股票指数Sensex一度重挫7%，之后缩小跌幅。
昨日收盘时，东京股市日经225种股票平均价格指数收于13325．94点，跌幅为3．86%，为2005年10月以来的最低收盘点位。韩国首尔股市综合指数较前一个交易日下跌51．16点，跌幅为2．95%。悉尼主要股指较前一个交易日下跌166．9点，跌幅为2．9%。
此前曾有分析人士希望中国能够起到中流砥柱的作用，以振奋全球市场信心。不过，现在看来，脱钩之说仍难成立。
在中国A股市场方面，上证指数开盘后在中国石油（爱股,行情,资讯）(601857.SH)为代表的权重股带动下连续跌破5000点、4900点两道整数关，报收4914.44点，大跌266.08点，跌幅达到5.14%。上证指数最近5个交易日已累计下跌583.46点，跌幅达到10.61%。
沪深两市仅有155家个股上涨，下跌多达1365家。沪市总市值排名前20位的个股昨日全部下跌，3家保险股中国平安（爱股,行情,资讯）(601318.SH)、中国太保（爱股,行情,资讯）(601601.SH)、中国人寿（爱股,行情,资讯）(601628.SH)跌幅全部超过8%，包揽了20强跌幅前三名。