Taiwan consumer confidence slips 1.3 percentage points

This is despite the stable labor market struggling to offset slowdown in manufacturing.

According to DBS, onsumer confidence slipped 1.3ppt in July, because of the deterioration in the stock market prospect. This is despite that the labor market has remained stable, thanks to job creation in the tourism related services sector that offset the slowdown in manufacturing. The unemployment rate stood at 4.25% sa in July, versus 4.24% in June.

Here's more from DBS:

July industrial production is due today. We expect a year-on-year contraction of -1.4%. Export orders continued to stagnate in July (0.1% MoM sa), in line with the sluggish performance in the global economy and in the electronics industry. Meanwhile, production growth in China slowed further in July, suggesting weak demand from the mainland.

A weak IP growth in July will definitely drag the GDP performance in 3Q. In YoY terms, it remains likely that GDP growth will bottom out in 3Q, thanks to a low base in 2H11. This doesn’t represent a substantial recovery. We expect the economy to return to the potential growth rate from 4Q12 at the earliest, which still largely depends on whether the downside risks in G2 and China can be well managed.