A decline in tech stocks pared earlier gains in equities until better-than-expected Chinese export numbers reversed the retreat. Exports from China leaped 14.1% in December 2012 versus the 4.6% increase expected by economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires. “The sharp rebound in trade growth could give another boost [to] China-related assets — from equities [and] commodities to the Chinese yuan. That said we shall not extrapolate too much from it as it’s well known that monthly year-on-year changes of trade data are volatile ” said Merrill Lynch analyst Ting Lu according to Marketwatch. The Labor Department reported today that ...