China: Solid trade data - BBH

Analysts at BBH suggests that the takeaway from the economic reports from China is that it reported a larger than expected trade surplus ($54.7 bln vs. Bloomberg median survey forecast of $37 bln and the November's $39 bln that was initially $40.2 bln).  

Key Quotes

“The cause of the surprise was weaker imports.  Exports rose 10.9% year-over-year after a revised 11.5% gain in November.  Imports rose 4.5%.  The Bloomberg survey looked for 15.1% and in November they had risen by 17.6%.”

“Separately, China reported aggregate financing slowed, ostensibly as the government encourages de-leveraging.  Aggregate financing slowed to CNY1.14 trillion from CNY1.6 trillion.  The market had looked for a much smaller decline.  It was new yuan loans that accounted for the miss, which means that the shadow banking may not be slowing as much as bank lending.”