Chinese and US trade up, Japanese machinery orders jump

A report on Wednesday showed that Chinese trade surged in January. From Bloomberg:

China’s imports climbed for a third straight month in January, signaling increasing strength in domestic demand that’s aiding the global economic rebound.

Imports climbed a record 85.5 percent from a year before, a jump that was influenced by a shift in the lunar new year holiday to February this year from January 2009, customs bureau figures showed in Beijing today. Exports rose 21 percent in a second monthly advance after 13 declines that may reinforce overseas calls for China to allow a stronger currency.

But the seasonally-adjusted month-on-month rate was weaker.

Seasonally adjusted, exports fell 5.5 percent from December and imports dropped 0.9 percent, the customs bureau said.

In the US, trade maintained its momentum in December.

The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly widened in December as imports rose faster than exports, gains that signaled a pickup in global economic growth.

The gap grew to $40.2 billion, the biggest in a year, from $36.4 billion in November, according to Commerce Department data released today in Washington. Imports increased 4.8 percent and exports climbed 3.3 percent to the highest level since October 2008.

The trade data reflect the global economic recovery. And there was evidence on Wednesday that the recovery will continue.

In Japan, machinery orders rebounded in December.

Japanese machinery orders rose the most in nine years from a record low, supporting a recovery from the country’s deepest postwar recession.

Domestic orders, a sign of business investment in three to six months, climbed 20.1 percent in December from a month earlier, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo. That was faster than the median 8 percent gain estimated by economists.

In the UK, industrial production rose in December.

U.K. manufacturers increased production in December at triple the pace economists forecast as the economy emerged from its worst recession on record.

Output rose 0.9 percent from November, the Office for National Statistics said today in London. Economists predicted a 0.3 percent increase, according to the median of 26 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey...

Overall industrial production, which includes utilities and mining and quarrying and accounts for 17 percent of the economy, rose 0.5 percent on the month. Economists predicted a 0.2 percent gain, the median of 30 forecasts in a Bloomberg survey showed.

However, continental Europe reverted to being the bearer of negative news, with both France and Italy reporting declines in industrial production in December.

Industrial production in France and Italy unexpectedly declined in December as demand for factory goods remained weak after the worst recession in six decades.

French industrial production fell 0.1 percent from November, when it increased a revised 0.6 percent, Paris-based statistics office Insee said today. Italian output fell 0.7 percent from November, when it rose a revised 0.4 percent, statistics office Istat said in Rome. Economists expected increases of 0.5 percent in France and 0.1 percent in Italy, according to their median forecasts in Bloomberg News surveys.