U.K. merchandise trade activity inched ahead by just 2.4% year over year in November. While that reversed 10 months of declines there was a marked split between exports which dropped by 16.3% and imports which improved by 19.0%. The drop in exports included an 85.7% slide in oil exports to China, likely by BP plc and Royal Dutch Shell, and a 37.9% slide in shipments of intermediate capital goods which may have included Getinge and Xylem. The increase in imports likely reflected stockpiling before the arrival of new trading arrangements with the EU which were only agreed on Dec. 24. Co...