Stable but slower growth

The unexpected plunge in China's export and import growth in July has brought home the harsh reality that the ongoing global economic correction may go deeper than previously anticipated.

The country's exports rose just 1 percent year-on-year, which is in sharp contrast to June's 11.3 percent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Import growth also fell, to 4.7 percent from the previous month's 6.3 percent. Both figures fell short of market forecasts even though they had been prepared to embrace a slower growth in trade.

Such low export growth, the lowest since January and almost the worst since November 2009, has been hard for the market to swallow, and the lingering European financial crisis and China's domestic economic slowdown offer no grounds for optimism.