SINGAPORE
Non-oil domestic exports (NODX) in Singapore were up 3.2% on month in May, trade agency Enterprise Singapore (ESG) reported on Friday (Jun 17). That topped expectations for an increase of 1.4% following the 3.3% decline in April. NODX growth surged to 12.4% year on year, from 6.4% in the month before – higher than the median estimate of 7.5% in a Bloomberg poll.
JAPAN
The Bank of Japan (BoJ) left its ultra-low interest rates unchanged on Friday and vowed to defend its cap on bond yields with unlimited buying, bucking a global wave of monetary tightening in a show of resolve to focus on supporting a tepid economic recovery. The BoJ reiterated that it will not hesitate to take extra easing measures if needed.
EUROZONE
The euro area annual inflation rate was 8.1% in May 2022, up from 7.4% in April. A year earlier, the rate was
2.0%. European Union annual inflation was 8.8% in May 2022, up from 8.1% in April. A year earlier, the rate was
2.3%. These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. In May, the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate came from energy (+3.87 percentage points,
pp), followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (+1.59 pp), services (+1.46 pp) and non-energy industrial goods (+1.13
pp).
US
Housing starts tumbled by 14.4% to an annual rate of 1.549 million in May after jumping by 5.5% to a revised rate of 1.810 million in April, a report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday showed. Economists had expected housing starts to decrease by 1.3% to an annual rate of 1.701 million from the 1.724 million originally reported for the previous month.
