China tightens again

China has tightened monetary policy again. Bloomberg reports:

China’s central bank raised lenders’ reserve requirements as cash from October’s larger-than-forecast $27.1 billion trade surplus threatened to add to the risk of asset bubbles and accelerating inflation.

Reserve requirements will increase 0.5 percentage points from Nov. 16, the People’s Bank of China said in a statement on its website about eight hours after the trade data. The announcement followed media reports today of increases for selected banks...

The increase takes reserve requirements for the nation’s biggest four banks to 18 percent and will drain about 360 billion yuan ($54 billion) from the financial system, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch said in a note...

The nation’s property prices rose 8.6 percent in October from a year earlier, the smallest gain in 10 months, as the government cracked down on speculation to limit asset-bubble risks, a separate report showed today.

Exports gained 22.9 percent from a year earlier and imports rose 25.3 percent, the customs bureau said...

While China's trade surplus expanded in October, the US trade deficit had shrunk in September. Again from Bloomberg:

The U.S. trade deficit shrank more than forecast in September as exports climbed to the highest level in two years, showing a weaker dollar is helping strengthen the economic recovery.

The gap narrowed by 5.3 percent to $44 billion, smaller than the $45 billion median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, according to Commerce Department figures today in Washington...

The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits declined by 24,000 to 435,000 in the week ended Nov. 6, lower than the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey, figures from the Labor Department today also showed. The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure than the weekly data, dropped to 446,500 last week, the lowest since September 2008, reinforcing evidence the labor market is starting to improve...

A second report from the Labor Department showed prices of goods imported into the U.S. rose 0.9 percent in October, the biggest gain in six months, reflecting higher costs for crude oil, metals and automobiles.