China fact of the day

The scale and scope of the troubles are now pretty close to public information:

Chinese exports fell far more than expected in July, along with imports, reinforcing expectations that the government will roll out more stimulus to support the world’s second-largest economy.

Exports slumped 8.3 percent from a year earlier, weaker than expectations for a 1 percent decline in a Reuters poll, and reversing a 2.8 percent gain in June.

Imports fell 8.1 percent, in line with expectations of an 8 percent drop, after a 6.1 percent decline in June, highlighting soft domestic demand and lower commodity prices.

There is more here, and China’s foreign exchange reserves are down for the third month in a row.  They used to be about $4 trillion, now down to $3.65 trillion, when you are trying to run various pegs for such a large economy that is a much smaller sum than it sounds.