20100818 1046 Local & Global Economic News.

Malaysia: Economic growth to stay strong
The Malaysian economy, whose GDP enjoyed a spectacular performance in the first three months of 2010, is expected to ease in the second quarter. Economists polled forecast the economy to grow 7.93% y-o-y in the second quarter, from 10.1% in the first. They also project full-year growth to average 6.83% before slipping to 5.47% next year. Bank Negara Malaysia will announce the latest data today. (BT)

Singapore: Exports cool as government predicts slowing demand
Singapore’s export growth rose at a less-than-expected pace in July as shipments of pharmaceuticals and electronics cooled amid a weakening global economy. Non-oil domestic exports climbed 18.2% from a year earlier, after a revised 28.5% gain in June, the trade promotion agency said in a statement. The median forecast of nine economists surveyed was for an increase of 20.1%. (Bloomberg)

Hong Kong: Jobless rate slides to lowest in 19 months
Hong Kong’s jobless rate fell to the lowest level since December 2008, encouraging consumers to spend and aiding the city’s recovery. The rate for the three months ended 31 July was 4.3%, compared with 4.6% in the second quarter, the government said on its website. That was lower than the median 4.5% estimate of nine economists surveyed. (Bloomberg)

Taiwan: Economy probably grew more than 10% amid export gains
Taiwan’s economy probably expanded more than 10% last quarter as the island’s shipments of microchips and displays weathered global risks to Asian exports. Gross domestic product expanded 10.15% in the three months through June from a year earlier, after rising 13.27% in the first quarter, according to the median of 14 estimates in a survey. (Bloomberg) US:

Household debt shrank 1.5% in the second quarter
American households pared their debts last quarter, closing credit card accounts and taking out fewer mortgages as unemployment persisted near a 26-year high, a survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed. Consumer indebtedness totaled USD11.7trn at the end of June, a decline of 1.5% from the previous three months and down 6.5% from its peak in the third quarter of 2008, according to the New York Fed’s first quarterly report on household debt and credit. (Bloomberg)

US: Production rebounds, housing languishes
Production jumped twice as much as forecast in July, signaling manufacturing is shouldering a US economic recovery that is showing signs of moderating in the second half of the year. Output climbed 1% as factories churned out more computers, appliances, automobiles and industrial machinery, the Federal Reserve said. Another report showed work began last month on fewer houses than forecast. (Bloomberg)