Growth of Australia’s major trading partners over the past year has been a little above its historical average. In the June quarter, the pace of growth looks to have eased a little with a decline in Japan’s output following the increase in the consumption tax in April. At the same time, however, growth of Chinese economic activity has picked up, driven by a rebound in exports and a pick-up in investment. This improvement in economic conditions reflects, in part, the modest stimulus provided by the Chinese authorities, which is designed to achieve their target of 7.5per cent GDP growth in 2014. The US economy grew ... (full story)