What may be the most important event of the year for investors will not come from the Federal Reserve or the European Central Bank. It won't even be the U.S. presidential election.

It will occur at the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party this fall, when nine people step onto the platform at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

These nine will comprise the Standing Committee of the Politburo, the most powerful political body in China, and they will rule the world's second largest economy for the next decade.
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At stake is how much China is ready to reform, both economically and politically. That will affect us all as China's growth engine has powered the world in recent years.

... let's hope this purge and power struggle result in real reform, which would be good for everybody. But let's not get our hopes too high. In China, the more things change, the more they stay the same.