China
- 2015 half-year gain: 16.7%
China's stock market was one of the hottest in the world in the past year. But it overheated.
Now it's in a bear market -- down over 20% from its peak on June 12. Concern has swollen for months that the surging value of Chinese stocks far outpaced China's economic growth, which is slowing down.
In addition to the stock market, China's real estate sector has gone south, which triggers a bad domino effect for things like jobs, construction and economic activity.
Some experts say China's economy couldn't keep up its double-digit growth realistically. It's still growing 7% -- far better than U.S. economic growth.
Chinese consumers are also not buying as much as they once did a few years ago. That slowdown has helped cause the price of commodities -- oil, sugar, coffee -- to fall significantly.
The question is whether China's economic growth will remain around 7% or continue to fall.
But to give a sense of just how much China's stock market soared in the past year, China's main Shanghai Composite Index is still up nearly 70% compared to where it was in July 2014, even after a rough few weeks.
