China's exports fell for a fourth straight month and imports matched a record stretch of declines, signaling that the mounting drag from slower global growth will push policy makers toward expanding stimulus.
Overseas shipments dropped 6.9 percent in October in dollar terms, the customs administration said Sunday, a bigger decline than estimated by all 31 economists in a Bloomberg survey.
The report signals that policy makers may need to unleash more fiscal stimulus to support growth even after the People's Bank of China cut the main interest rate six times in the last year to a record low and devalued the currency.