China’s surprise drop in exports can largely be blamed on the telecoms sector as handset shipments by Apple and others decline. The shipping industry’s profitability may have stabilized in 4Q, but challenges abound. Also: the outlook for 2019 from Panjiva’s co-founder; Dell’s bucked the trend of declining PC shipments in 4Q; MSC brings its customers along with tariff-related price rises; Houston’s been helped by China, but shouldn’t suffer; U.S.-China trade talks are halfway through their 90-day allotted time-frame; and the USTR has been hit by the government shutdown, but that won’t der...