Jim Cramer Says Buy Chinese Consumer Stocks, Skip Manufacturing

The Chinese government has announced that it is aiming to achieve 6.5 percent economic growth for the next five years. The country has sparked increasing levels of concern in the markets over the prospect of economic downturn after growth fell to a two decade low of 7.4 percent last year. Asian shares were down again on Monday following the latest round of weak Chinese manufacturing data. 'Maybe it time to stop looking at things like the Chinese purchasing managers’ index and just start focusing on what the companies are saying,' said TheStreet’s Jim Cramer. Chinese officials have now slashed interest rates six times in the last twelve months in a repeated attempt to stimulate the Chinese economy, while the managers’ index held at 49.8 points through October (numbers on the scale below 50 indicate contraction). Jim Cramer says that despite the numbers there is still plenty of growth to be found in the Chinese market. 'We are hearing from a plethora of companies that send consumer products to China, saying things have really accelerated there,' said Cramer, sighting MacDonald’s (MCD) and Alibaba (BABA) as beneficiaries of the Chinese marketplace.