Japan trade data for February - recap

Data is here from earlier for the Japanese February trade balance

More detail now via Reuters:

• Japan's exports fell for the fifth month in a row
• Shipments to China picked up
• "The Lunar New Year is certainly a factor because Chinese factory activity slows to a trickle and then resumes very quickly," said Shuji Tonouchi, senior fixed income strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. "Excluding that factor, there is still uncertainty about how China will rebalance its economy and how other emerging markets will cope."

More at the link, here (and is it just me or is the font on that page tiny?)

There is also more from Bloomberg, here (And I'm happy to report the font looks fine)

• "The tailwind from the weak yen has gone. We can't help but hold a pessimistic view on the outlook for exports," said Atsushi Takeda, an economist at Itochu Corp. in Tokyo, said before the figures were released. "Domestic demand won't be dependable at all, and the same goes for exports. I can't deny the possibility of another economic contraction this quarter."