No one would be particularly surprised that Chinese stocks traded on U.S. exchanges did well in the third quarter. The Shanghai Composite has doubled so far this year, and many stocks like Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU), the China search engine, have made stunning gains.
In the third quarter, China Eastern Airlines (NYSE: CEA) moved up 112%. China Finance Online (NASDAQ: JRJC) ran up 282%. It is hard to imagine that the Chinese market can keep up this momentum, but analysts say that every quarter.
No one would find it odd that home builders and mortgage lenders were among the big losers in the quarter. Beazer Homes (NYSE: BZH) fell 66% to $8.25. Fremont General (NYSE: FMT), which has a subprime lending operation, fell 63.4% to $3.90. Mortgage lender Novastar Financial (NYSE: NFI) was down 68% to $8.87.
As retail sales fell, specialty store operations took a pounding. Gottschalks (NYSE: GOT) fell 63.5% to $4.34. And, Sharper Image (NASDAQ: SHRP) dropped 63.7% to $4.13.
The toughest part of the quarter is the realization the retail, housing, and mortgage shares could actually go lower during the October to December period.
Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.
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