David Cohen, an economist with Action Economics, said “growth has decelerated in the face of the global soft patch in export demand and the weight of tightening.” The government, he added, “will be able to achieve a soft landing, tightening enough to prevent inflation from getting out of hand but at the same time allowing continued growth.”

According to China’s central bank, the fundamentals of economic growth are “still good.” Various investment firms, such as ARC Investment Partners and Lunar Capital, are firmly rooted in China and continue to see potential in the region despite the global economic crisis.

In response to the decline in export growth, measures to boost domestic sales are currently underway.

According to Chen Linhui of the Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, these measures will include “simplifying the approval process for domestic sale, establishing convenient financing, expanding sales channels and enhancing brand image.”

Investing Sensibly an Unstable Stock Market

First, if you’re looking for top investments that are very likely to go bad, there are probably five that are pretty stable according to the Bank of America: they say that diamonds are a girl’s best friend but it turns out that it could be more than that. Indeed, as gems go, grade A diamonds are probably pretty popular with everyone who wants to make more than an extra dime or two and are likely to continue appreciating according to Farnoosh Torabi Yahoo Finance. As well when it comes to natural pearls, Kevin Zavian, Doyle NY, says that you pretty much can’t go wrong. If you are into antiques, you might want to focus on those hailing from mainland China according to Kathy Doyle of Doyle New York Auctioneers. As China’s economy escalates, auctioneers from all over the world are looking at their gems, especially porcelain, ivory, jade and bronze.

Next, there are early presidential documents. Now that everything is on email these documents according to Peter Siegel of Gotta Have it Collectibles, are making a mint. For music lovers it is the classic rock memorabilia from artists such as The Beatles and Frank Sinatra that are selling for thousands of dollars. And finally if you want a stable investment and love sports, check out vintage sports collectibles such as Mohammed Ali and Sims.

Saving to Make Money

But if you don’t feel you have the cash to invest right now, you can still make money indirectly. There are many great and easy ways to end up with extra coins in your pocket. Everyone needs health care but you can stretch your dollar with health savings accounts, enjoying a triple tax benefit. In other words, whatever money you put in to a tax-deductible account will be tax deferred and can be utilized for your medical expenses without incurring any tax. For this you do need a deductible of at least $1,200 for self-only coverage from your health insurance policy but it’s certainly worth investigating. Experts have said that you can make up to $854 per year in savings.

No matter what the global economy is or isn’t doing, one is always free to make choices. And by making the right ones, you will be stunned at how much money you can make or save; just do your homework well.

Although China-based hedge funds didn’t do so great last year compared with peers around the world, interestingly they still “took in money almost twice as fast,” netting inflows of US$3.5 billion (marking a 23 percent growth), significantly higher than the entire global hedge fund industry (which was 14 percent). In the same time frame, the hedge funds reached $18.68 billion in assets under management. This was significantly less than the figure they reached in the third quarter of 2007 ($22.84 billion).

East Versus West

According to London’s Financial Times, Singapore and Hong Kong have been doubling the size of their hedge funds over the past year. While that’s great news for the east, it seems to be having a negative impact on their neighbors abroad, most particularly London and New York. A staggering 80 percent increase in just one year has been noted in Asian cities hosting hedge funds. Last year there were 10 and now there are 18, totaling over $1bn.

As well, Hong Kong has been getting a nice amount of high-profile launches which look set to breakthrough the $1bn mark in 2011. Azentus is one such example of this hedge fund about to be established by ex-head of Goldman Sachs’ proprietary trading operation GS Principal Strategies, Morgan Sze, set to raise around $1.5bn, making it into the “largest global hedge fund start-up since 2007.”

Great Eastern Economic Environments

It is perhaps not surprising that these Asian cities are now doing so well when you look at what they’ve been doing to their economies. Singapore and Hong Kong today have extremely low-tax environments with minimal regulations making it a definite plus for hedge fund managers. Indeed, Hong Kong has no sales or capital gains tax and no VAT. Plans are set to eliminate stamp duties and income tax only stands at a high of 20 percent for those in the HK$105,000+ bracket.

As a result of these figures, the environment is exceedingly attractive to Americans and Brits are coming by the truckloads to benefit from this lax attitude.

The Solaris Capital SPC Equity Arbitrage Fund will start trading with S$30 million ($23 million) on Nov. 8, Tey said. Thomas Tey is a 24-year trading veteran with banks including Singapore- based Oversea-Chinese’s treasury division and Credit Suisse First Boston in Tokyo.

Tey’s aim is for the fund to grow to S$100 million by the end of 2011. He is actively targeting investors in Asia since raising assets in the U.S. and Europe has become “very, very tough.” About 50 percent of assets in Asian hedge funds come from Europe, while 40 percent are from U.S. investors, according to Eurekahedge Pte.

“This is not a very conducive environment to be raising money, but we expect to get to our target,” Tey, 49, said in an interview on Oct. 22nd.

The Solaris fund aims to trade stocks and derivatives including futures. The fund will be focused on arbitrage opportunities where it can profit from price differences between related securities, according to Tey.

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