China’s trade surplus $75.43 billion in Q1

• China’s trade continued to decline in April for the 6th consecutive month.
• China’s exports fell 22.6% YoY in April but rose 6.9% compared to March
• Imports fell 23% YoY in April but rose 15.1% compared to March
• Domestic investment though continued to expand and property prices showed more signs of stabilizing.
• Fixed-asset investment in China’s urban areas rose 30.5% compared to a year earlier.
• Investment in central government projects jumped 29.3%
• State owned or state controlled investments rose 30.6% as a result of government stimulus.

"We expect fixed-asset investment to be the single most important contributor to China's GDP growth in 2009," wrote Jing Ulrich, chairwoman of China equities at J.P. Morgan.

• Property prices in 70 of China’s large and medium sized cities fell 1.1% YoY in April.
• The pace of decline slowed from a 1.3% drop in March.
• Prices of newly built residential properties fell 1.7%
• Prices in the secondary market were unchanged in April after falling 0.4% in march.

Source: WSJ