CONFIRMED: The Chinese growth story is fading rapidly.
Last night, China whiffed on both export and import data, driving home the fact that as slow as people think things are getting, it might be even worse.
Markets are now going down after initially being closer to flat. US futures are modestly in the red.
Italy is off by 1.3%. Spain down by 1.2%.
(China, interestingly enough, saw stocks rise 2%).
The big event today is a speech from Ben Bernanke about the history of Fed policy, which will be followed by a Q&A.
It will be watched very closely.
For more on Chinese trade data, see here.