"The market in the first half of the year was super fragmented—indexes performed well, but individual stocks tanked hard. The median gain/loss for all A-shares was -15%, a figure that, in the past 15 years, was only worse during major bear markets like 2018 and 2022. Honestly, this year’s first half felt even tougher than the entirety of 2022—last year’s full-year drop was 19%, but this year we’re already down 15% in just six months. The main issue is that there’s not enough money in the market. AI hardware has been sucking up liquidity nonstop, leaving other sectors drained. A-shares are basically running on a 1:9 dynamic, while Hong Kong stocks are even more extreme, closer to 0.3:9.7. The deep bear market in Hong Kong stocks has been worse than expected, and the Hong Kong portion of my portfolio has contributed significantly to negative excess returns. The root problem is that there’s just not enough capital to support multi-sector rallies. A-shares are like a seesaw right now—when AI hardware goes up, everything else goes down; when financials rise, AI drops. The only reason the index is hovering around 4,000 points is because IPOs have been scaled back. If IPO activity returns to 2021-2023 levels, A-shares might end up just as bad as Hong Kong stocks. The core issue is the economy, and the economy’s problem is income. We need faster, more effective policies to have any chance of replicating the rally we saw last July-September. But don’t expect AI hardware to drop while other sectors rise—that’s unrealistic. With half-year reports coming out soon, AI hardware-related sectors are still in a global boom cycle, and it’s unlikely to end anytime soon. Better to hope for improved liquidity instead. #StockMarket #Ashares #HongKongStocks #AI #Liquidity #BearMarket