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.

Tags: Asia, China, Emerging Markets, EWH, Global ETFs, Hong Kong