Wall Street saw better days then today. The DJIA is down over 300 points on high unemployment rate and record oil, approaching $150 a barrel. No wonder, shares of U.S. listed Chinese companies, or ADRs, follow suit measured by the broad China ADR Index or CAI. As the following table demonstrates, Chinese ADRs lost 3.41% today however there is a significant difference between NYSE and NASDAQ listed ADRs. While index heavy NYSE listed China stocks lost ground, measured by the China NYSE Index (CYI), NASDAQ listed Chinese ADRs hold ground thanks to a superb performance of NetEase (NTES), The9 and some solar companies.

China ADRs or U.S. listed shares of Chinese companies made a remarkable comeback after hitting all time lows YTD on March 20th. As the following chart demonstrates, Chinese stocks trading in Americn stock exchanges are down by almost 15% year to date (YTD) vs. the 28% negative return measured in late March. This makes it a 13% comeback in just two months, fueling investors optimism.

Shares of Chinese equities listed on U.S. exchanges, referred to as ADRs, are trading sideways after the open. Large cap stocks seem to be consolidating after yesterday's huge rally with Baidu.com as exception. China's search engine giant, Baidu, is up another $5.27 at $265.66 passing the $260 resistance level easily. Baidu reported strong 2007 Q4 and full year earnings yet was on the low side, following weak market sentiment. But this time when sentiment is undecided, fundamentals came back on play, propelling Baidu back to the $260+ range.

With no action in China in due to the Chinese New Year kicking in, U.S. listed Chinese stocks or adrs tracked U.S. market sentiment very closely. Regarding the home market, Wall Street finished a dismal week with a mixed performance Friday as investors grappled with fears about insurers of distressed mortgage-backed bonds and anxiety about the broader economy. The DJIA dropped over 60 points while the NASDAQ composite gained.

The China ADR Index (CAI) lost -9.57 points to read 863.61 by noon on Monday. NYSE listed Chinese equities held up better, the China NYSE Index (CYI) lost only -9.38 points while the China NASDAQ Index (CQI) is down by -14.21 points. Oil stocks are weighting on the index heavily. Index heavyweight PetroChina (PTR) lost $2.63 or -1.78% to $145.20 dragging down the index. Asia's largest refiner SNP lost $2.48 or -2.12% while offshore specialist CEO lost $2.48 or -1.70% to trade at $143.02.

Chinese stocks made a modest comeback by noon on Friday. The China ADR index, measuring cap weighted performance of 67 Chinese stocks, is up 0.35 percent. NASDAQ names are up almost one percent. NYSE names are laggards.

9:30 A.M. reading: Chinese indices plunged with NYSE listed Chinese stocks most. NASDAQ listed Chinese stocks have been already beat up and finally, NYSE names came down, too. PetroChina (PTR), Sinopec Corp (SNP), China Telecom (CHA) and China Mobile (Hong Kong) Ltd., (CHL) dragged the NYSE listed China stock index (CYI) to historical lows since its inception. CYI lost -13.15 percent versus last Friday, posting its single biggest one day drop ever. Among NASDAQ names, Baidu.com Inc. (BIDU) , Focus Media Holding Ltd. (FMCN) , Ctrip.com (CTRP) and JA Solar Holdings Co. (JASO) were most severely hit.

U.S. listed Chinese stocks came back strongly by the end of the day, NYSE names in particular. China Mobile (CHL), China's largest mobile operator came back especially strong by gaining $2.67 or 3.75 percent on Friday to finish at $77.39. Some of the institutional investors made use of the opportunity to pick up good quality stocks.

U.S. listed Chinese ADRs plunged on Thursday, suffering their worst two-day fall. As the following table shows, the "China ADR Index" (CAI) is down by -12.28% year-to-date (YTD), the "China NYSE Index" (CYI) is down by -11.95% YTD, and the "China NASDAQ Index" (CQI) is down by -21.0% YTD. These indices are market cap weighted and are set at 1,000 as of January 1, 2008.

At Chinavestor we have always argued that investors have to understand the fundamental differences between NYSE and NASDAQ listed Chinese companies. NASDAQ listings offer higher retunrn in general but at a price of higher risk.