Good News, Bad News for Hong Kong ETF

Around the world, economies are pulling themselves out of the gutters. But Hong Kong, and related exchange traded fund (ETF), may find itself stuck without a strong helping hand. It’s not all doom and gloom, however.

On the minus side:

• Hong Kong’s jobless rate increased 0.1% from May to reach 5.4% for June, which is making it harder for the government to revive growth, reports Sophie Leung for Bloomberg. The city has injected $11.3 billion, or 5.2% of GDP, to help the stumbling economy.

• GDP diminished a seasonally adjusted 4.3% in the 1st quarter from the previous three months, and the final numbers for the second quarter may not be as severe as the 7.8% decline in the first quarter year-over-year.

• Bankruptcy petitions in Hong Kong climbed 89% in June to 1,619 year-over-year.

But in better news:

• Financial Secretary John Tsang says export demand is improving and that is what attributed to the smaller decline in the economy for the second quarter.

• The Financial Secretary previously projected a 6.5% contraction for 2009 after a significant decrease in demand for Chinese goods shipped through the city.

• The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index climbed 60% from the March 9 low on hopes that worldwide stimulus plans would revive the city’s growth, write Nipa Piboontanasawat and Kevin Hamlin for Bloomberg.

• Home sales also increased 19.3% this year.

• iShares MSCI Hong Kong Index (EWH): up 42.3% year-to-date

For more information on Hong Kong, visit our Hong Kong category.

Max Chen contributed to this article.