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I’m not sure what to make of China’s January trade figures which have just annihilated consensus. Exports were up 10.6% year on year versus 0.1% expected and imports were up 10% versus 4%. The trade surplus beat by and astonishing $9 billion coming in at $32 billion versus $23 billion expected.
The Australian dollar rose 30 pips, which is a little subdued for such a huge beat and I’m not all that surprised. Chinese trade data has become increasingly unreliable because bogus invoicing has spread as the favoured method for smuggling cash in and out of the country.
Still, strong enough to push the Aussie to its highs for this recent run.
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About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific's leading geo-politics and economics portal.
He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.
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