South Korea’s Exports Climb Much Less Than Expected, Bad Implications for the Global Economy

“The first major economic report with complete April data is out and it’s a miss.

South Korean exports climbed by just 0.4% year-over-year.  Economists were looking for a gain of 2.0%.

Economists across Wall Street dub South Korean exports as the global economic canary in the coal mine.

Korean trade data usually comes before the first trading session of the month in Asia, which makes it the first of the world’s major economic indicators to be released.

Because Korea’s exports are heavily exposed to China and Japan — the world’s second and third largest economies — it is considered to have strong predictive power….”

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