Of course, how could the economies not be so tightly linked and dependent on each other? Now that credit has stopped in the West, who can afford to shop 'til they drop? The decoupling theory takes yet another hit as it falls back to reality.
New orders at Chinese factories tumbled in November while their U.S. retail customers used deep discounts to lure shoppers at the start of a holiday season overshadowed by fears of global recession.
Underlining the China data, South Korea's exports fell by the most in 7 years last month and both Tokyo and Beijing provided stark warnings on the challenges ahead for their economies, the second- and fourth-biggest in the world.
