China Slowdown

• Early indicators of China’s economic performance don’t look great. They point to a continued slowdown for a seventh straight month, after economic growth was already the slowest in almost three decades in the third quarter.
• Bloomberg Economics’ gauge aggregates the earliest data from financial markets and businesses. It shows a worsening picture for trade, sales manager sentiment, and factory prices.
• While tensions with the U.S. have eased since the two sides announced talks toward a so-called “phase one” deal last month, South Korean exports — a renowned indicator for trade flows in Asia — still contracted almost 10% in the first 20 days of November.
• That’s an improvement from September’s worst result in a decade, but it indicates that high-technology trade across the region is still struggling as the Christmas shopping season approaches. The faster fall in the prices of goods from Chinese factories in November also indicates that domestic demand is weak. If those deflationary effects continue, it will further hurt corporate profits at home.

(Source: Bloomberg)