Not new news, we've already got the data in yuan terms and seen its 'risk on' impact

China December trade balance: surplus 382.05 bn yuan (338.8bn expected)

But, here we go:

Trade Balance +60.9 bn USD

  • expected was $51.30b and prior was $54.10b

Exports -1.4% y/y

  • expected -8.0%, prior -6.8%

Imports -7.6% y/y

  • expected -11.0%, prior -8.7%
  • 2015 Imports fall 14.1% y/y
  • 2015 Exports fall 2.8% y/y

-

Combined with the 4 days of stability in the yuan fix from the PBOC, the better trade data is good news for the Chinese administration. Gold stars all round I suspect.