China exports tumble sharply
Tue May 12, 2009 7:26am EDT
By Zhou Xin and Jan Strupczewski
BEIJING/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Chinese exports dropped sharply and a clutch of Japanese companies registered hefty losses on Tuesday, while central banks expressed some optimism that the worst was over for the world economy.
Banks, the epicenter of the financial crisis, continued to hold the markets' focus with Bank of America (BAC.N) raising over $7 billion and the European Union saying it would follow Washington's lead and conduct tests on its banking sector.
A bigger than expected 22.6 percent annual fall in Chinese April exports showed global demand remained subdued at best, with Japanese exporters continuing to suffer.
Analysts took heart from signs that Beijing's efforts to prop up domestic demand, via a $585 billion stimulus, seemed to be bearing fruit, but said global conditions remained difficult.
"The future of the world economy remains uncertain, and it's really hard to be optimistic about China's trade prospects," said Qi Jingmei, an economist with the State Information Center, a government think-tank in Beijing.
Australia unveiled its largest deficit on record and forecast a decade of debt, starkly demonstrating the price to pay for trillions of dollars of public spending worldwide to tackle the worst economic crisis since World War Two and the damage recession does to government revenues.
Nor did Japan offer much to cling to.
Tue May 12, 2009 7:26am EDT
By Zhou Xin and Jan Strupczewski
BEIJING/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Chinese exports dropped sharply and a clutch of Japanese companies registered hefty losses on Tuesday, while central banks expressed some optimism that the worst was over for the world economy.
Banks, the epicenter of the financial crisis, continued to hold the markets' focus with Bank of America (BAC.N) raising over $7 billion and the European Union saying it would follow Washington's lead and conduct tests on its banking sector.
A bigger than expected 22.6 percent annual fall in Chinese April exports showed global demand remained subdued at best, with Japanese exporters continuing to suffer.
Analysts took heart from signs that Beijing's efforts to prop up domestic demand, via a $585 billion stimulus, seemed to be bearing fruit, but said global conditions remained difficult.
"The future of the world economy remains uncertain, and it's really hard to be optimistic about China's trade prospects," said Qi Jingmei, an economist with the State Information Center, a government think-tank in Beijing.
Australia unveiled its largest deficit on record and forecast a decade of debt, starkly demonstrating the price to pay for trillions of dollars of public spending worldwide to tackle the worst economic crisis since World War Two and the damage recession does to government revenues.
Nor did Japan offer much to cling to.
