Asia

Singapore Sees Growth as Much as 3.5% as Lee Reviews Strategies. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong narrowed the government’s forecast for economic growth this year and said the country must review its strategies as its needs evolve. The Southeast Asian nation’s growth domestic product will probably expand 2.5% to 3.5% this year, Lee said in a televised message yesterday. The range is narrower than a previous prediction of 2% to 4%. The economy grew 3.5% in the first half, the leader said. (Bloomberg)

BOJ Holds Stimulus as Weaker Economy Challenges Kuroda. The Bank of Japan maintained record stimulus after recent production and export data highlighted weakness that could challenge Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s push to stoke faster inflation. The central bank stuck with a pledge to increase the monetary base at an annual pace of 60tril yen to 70tril yen ($687bil), the bank said in a statement today, as forecast by all 34 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. (Bloomberg)

China Posts Benign Consumer Inflation In July, But Producer Deflation Stays Stubborn. China posted mild consumer inflation on Saturday, well below the annual target in July, giving authorities room to further relax monetary policy, but deflationary pressure for producers remained stubborn, highlighting a wobbly economic rebound. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that the consumer price index (CPI) held steady at 2.3% year-on-year in July, while the producer price index (PPI) fell 0.9% for the 29th consecutive month. (Reuters)

China Posts Record Trade Surplus, But Domestic Economy May Lag. China's buoyant exports pushed its trade surplus to a record in July, fuelling optimism global demand will help counter pressure on the domestic economy from a weakening property sector. Exports in July jumped 14.5% from a year earlier - the fastest pace in 15 months, the General Administration of Customs said on Friday, doubling from 7.2% in June and roundly beating market expectations. Exports were stronger than expected even after pricing in inflated export data in early 2013, when firms falsified invoices to skirt capital curbs. Some analysts attributed the export spurt to delayed shipments caused by recent volatility in the yuan which may not sustain. Meanwhile, imports fell 1.6% versus a rise of 5.5% in June, leaving the country with a record trade surplus of $47.3bil for the month. A Reuters poll had predicted a 7.5% rise in exports, a 3% increase in imports and a trade surplus of $27bil. (Reuters)

North America

U.S. Wholesale Inventories Rise Less Than Expected, Sales Slow. U.S. wholesale inventories rose less than expected in June, which could have an impact on the growth estimate for the second-quarter. The Commerce Department said on Friday wholesale inventories increased 0.3% after a downwardly revised 0.3% gain in May. Economists polled by Reuters had expected stocks at wholesalers to rise 0.6% in June after a previously reported 0.5% increase the prior month. Inventories are a key component of gross domestic product changes. The component that goes into the calculation of GDPwholesale stocks excluding autos - increased 0.4Sales at wholesalers rose 0.2% after increasing 0.7percent in May. There were declines in sales of nondurable goods, hardware and apparel. At June's sales pace it would take 1.17 months to clear shelves, unchanged from May. (Reuters)

U.S. Productivity Bounce-Back Keeps Wage Pressures Tame. Productivity at U.S. nonfarm businesses rebounded strongly in the second quarter, putting a lid on wage pressures and giving the Federal Reserve room to keep interest rates low for a while. The Labor Department said on Friday productivity increased at a 2.5% annual rate after contracting at a revised 4.5% pace in the first quarter. The first quarter's drop was the sharpest since the fourth quarter of 1981. The bounce back kept labor-related production costs in check. They had surged at the start of the year as an unusually cold winter depressed output. Unit labor costs, the price of labor for any given unit of production, rose at a 0.6% rate, braking sharply from an upwardly revised 11.8% pace in the first quarter. (Reuters)

Canada Paltry 200 Jobs In July Spurs Labor Market Exodus. Canada created 200 new jobs last month and the feeble state of the nation’s labor market provoked more job hunters to abandon the search. Another 35,400 people dropped out of the labor market in July, cutting the participation rate to 65.9%, the lowest since October 2001, Statistics Canada said today from Ottawa. The shrinking workforce was the main factor in the unemployment rate’s decline to 7% from 7.1%. Economists predicted a 20,000 jobs increase and a 7.1% unemployment rate, according to median forecasts in a Bloomberg economist survey. (Bloomberg)

Europe

UK Trade Deficit Widens In June, But Construction Recovers. Sagging exports pushed Britain's trade deficit to a fivemonth high in June, suggesting a more balanced economic recovery still looks a way off, although the construction industry recovered from a dip in May. Exports of British goods to countries outside the European Union fell to their lowest level since September 2011, coinciding with the pound hitting a near six-year high against the dollar. The country's total goods trade deficit grew to 9.4bil pounds ($15.8bil) in June, its highest level since January, from 9.2bil pounds in May, official data showed on Friday. Economists had forecast a gap of 8.8bil pounds. Including Britain's surplus in trade in services, the overall trade deficit rose to 2.5bil pounds from 2.4bil pounds, also the biggest since January, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Overall construction output - which accounts for just over 6% of the British economy - rose by 1.2% in June after falling by the same percentage in May. Year-on-year growth rose to a three-month high of 5.3% from 3.9% in May. Still, construction output is 10.3% below its level in the first quarter of 2008, before the financial crisis. (Reuters)

Trade Boost May Not Save German Economy From Second-Quarter Contraction. German exports and imports rebounded in June, suggesting the West's standoff with Russia over Ukraine is not seriously hurting Europe's largest economy but failing to dispel concerns of a contraction in the second quarter. Data from the Federal Statistics Office showed seasonally adjusted imports rose by 4.5% in June, their strongest month-on-month increase since November 2010 and a bounceback from a sharp drop in May. Exports rose by 0.9%, nearly double the rate expected by economists in a Reuters poll. For the second quarter as a whole, the figures showed exports increasing marginally compared to the first three months of the year and imports falling. (Reuters)

Italy Approves Economic Package Amid Scepticism, Recession. Italy has pushed through a package of support measures for the economy that offers some help to businesses, but pressure is rising on Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to take more significant steps to pull the country out of recession. Among the more significant measures in the package, approved by parliament late on Thursday, are a reduction in energy costs for small and medium-sized companies, a tax credit for firms that make new investments in machinery and new rules allowing insurers and credit funds to lend directly to business. Minor measures affecting areas from agriculture to the environment were also included. (Reuters)

Currencies

Dollar Slips Against Yen, Euro Amid Global Conflict. The U.S. dollar fell against the Japanese yen and the euro on Friday as warfare in Ukraine and Iraq sent investors searching for safe assets. The dollar slipped to ¥102.07. The dollar closed out the Thursday session at ¥102.11. The euro bought to $1.3413, up from $1.3364 in the prior session. The dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of rivals, fell to 81.386 from 81.524. The euro rose to ¥136.89. The euro was at ¥135.92 early Friday morning in London, from ¥136.40 late Thursday in New York. The euro fell to 1.2143 Swiss francs from 1.2146. The Australian dollar rose to $0.9276 from $0.9269, after the Reserve Bank of Australia lowered the nation’s gross domestic product forecast. (MarketWatch)

Commodities

Brent Oil Falls Toward $105/Bbl After U.S. Iraq Air Strike. Brent crude oil fell toward $105 a barrel on Friday, following U.S. air strikes in Iraq that analysts said might lower the risk of oil supply disruptions from OPEC's second-largest producer, while U.S. crude found support from a rebounding stock market. Brent hit a weekly high of $106.85 earlier in the session, but soon entered negative territory and settled 42 cents lower at $105.02 a barrel. U.S. crude rose 31 cents to settle at $97.65 a barrel, off an intraday high of $98.45. U.S. prices were supported by a sudden rebound in the stock market prompted by news that Russia was ending military drills near the Ukrainian border. (Reuters)

Gold Drops As Wall St Gains But Iraq Tensions Support. Gold fell on Friday, pressured by a lack of physical buyers and gains on Wall Street, but a U.S. air strike in Iraq and tensions in Middle East supported prices, which stayed above $1,300 an ounce. Gold was up around 1% for the week, its first weekly increase in four weeks. Spot gold was down 0.3% at $1,309.66 by 2:14p.m. EDT (1814 GMT). Among other precious metals, silver edged down 0.2% to $19.88 an ounce. Platinum inched up 0.1% to $1,473 an ounce, while palladium gained 1.2% to $860.50 an ounce. (Reuters)