For many investors who don't have the benefit of 20 years of experience in Asia like I do, figuring out what Beijing is up to is both puzzling and difficult.
But a handy little tool called a "Form 13F" can help.
In case you're not familiar with it, the 13F is a disclosure document that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires institutional-investment managers to file when they hold $100 million or more of certain U.S.-listed stocks.
China's $300 billion sovereign wealth fund (SWF) – the China Investment Corp. (CIC) – just filed its first-ever 13F with the SEC, revealing that it purchased about $9.6 billion worth of U.S. stocks last year.
And it confirms much of what we've been telling you since the global financial crisis began – namely that China would take advantage of the crisis by purchasing beaten-down stocks, resources, and hard assets … and in a big way.
Even more important, this filing hints at what China is likely to do next – an insight that will help investors figure out where to put their money in order to maximize their personal profits.