US Dollar Holds Firm as Fed Outlook and Iran Tensions Keep Markets on Edge 
Asian Currencies Steady as Markets Await U.S. Inflation Data 
England Drought Expands to 71% as Heatwave Deepens Water Crisis 
Oil Prices Rise as US-Iran Talks Stall, Inflation Risks Grow 
Oil, Gold Rise as Geopolitical Risks Grip Markets Ahead of U.S. CPI 
Gold Prices Slip From Two-Month High as Inflation and Fed Outlook Drive Markets 
Singapore Raises 2026 GDP Growth Forecast to 4.5%-5.5% as AI Boom Fuels Economy 
Trump Weighs Capital Gains Tax Cuts Ahead of Midterms 
S&P 500, Nasdaq Slip as Oil Jumps on Iran Tensions 
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Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports rose a better-than-expected 11.8 percent y/y (4.3 percent m/m s.a.) in July, up from June’s 1.1 percent y/y (-10.8 percent m/m s.a), beating market consensus forecast. While electronics exports continued to contract at a more modest 3.8 percent y/y (June: -8.6 percent y/y), non-electronics exports surged 18.8 percent (June: 4.5 percent y/y), mainly attributable to pharmaceuticals (109.2 percent versus 19.1 percent previously).
Electronics exports were dragged down by ICs, diodes & transistors and parts of PC, whereas non-electronics exports saw contributions from food preparations (120.4 percent) and primary chemicals (41.3 percent y/y) in addition to pharmaceuticals.
However, pharmaceuticals output and exports can be rather volatile depending on the turnaround for each production cycle, so it is unclear how long this current uptick will sustain beyond the immediate few months ahead.
"Our 2018 NODX growth forecast is 4-5 percent y/y, which is above the IESingapore’s recently upgraded forecast of 2.5-3.5 percent y/y," OCBC Bank commented in its latest research report.
Meanwhile, the July NODX print marks a healthy start for NODX to 2H18 and brought the NODX growth for the first seven months of 2018 to 6.2 percent y/y. However, the higher 9.7 percent y/y NODX growth seen for August-December 2017, and the escalating US-Sino trade war may still pose some headwinds for NODX growth in the coming months.
