Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Chinese Exports: "Second Derivative" Turns Negative

If we're going to talk about EVERY second derivative (starting to really hate that term), here's one that doesn't bode well (though I will like to point out that the embedded margin of error makes this second derivative minuscule). But... the second derivative of Chinese exports has declined in April from March. Yves at Naked Capitalism with the details:

So much for the green shoots theory, at least as far as an early Chinese recovery is concerned. From AFP (hat tip reader Michael):

Chinese exports fell 22.6 percent in April from a year earlier in the sixth straight monthly decline, state media said Tuesday,... Exports from the world's third-largest economy totalled 91.94 billion dollars last month...

The drop was larger than that recorded in March, despite hopes that China's exports performance would start to improve.

Commerce ministry spokesman Yao Jian said in April that China was confident exports would improve "on the basis of the gradual recovery seen in the first quarter."

Exports in March fell by 17.1 percent year-on-year, narrowing from a 25.7 percent dive in February, the worst slump in more than a decade.

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