Submitted By: Kerry Huang

See this Wall Street Journal article (Chinese Investors Crunching Numbers Are Glad to See 8s).

In the US and most developed nations, investors carefully study companies before making investments. Financial institutions with seasoned analysts account for a bulk of the transactions on the stock exchanges. However, in China many of the investors are unexperienced individuals who base their decisions on “lucky numbers”;  specifically, the number eight, which signifies “wealth” in Chinese.  According to the article, investors will buy a company’s stock if the number eight
is in it.

Many will find this practice laughable but the Chinese take lucky numbers very seriously.  For example, as we ride the elevators in China one will notice that the buttons for floors 14 (”want death”), and 24 (”easy death”) do not exist.  With 60% -80% of China’s trades being made by inexperienced investors, one wonders what will happen to the stock market? Will these superstitious investors crash the market? How will the government regulate such trades?

Side note:  Even Chinese American’s who grew up with superstitious parents are affected by lucky numbers. My normally rational friend freaks out every time she looks at the clock and it reads 4:44, which is “death death death.”