Hong Kong’s economy experienced strong headwinds in the past two quarters. Leading indicators such as PMI worsened to 44.4, its lowest reading since early 2009, Yahoo reported. Retail sales growth has remained in negative territory since last December. The slowdown of mainland China’s growth and expected Fed rate hike in the near term are believed to be the two major headwinds. “As a result, we revised down our 2015 GDP forecast to 1.8% from 2.3% due to the continued decline in retail sales and a weaker-than-expected growth outlook for Hong Kong’s major trading partners, in particular China”, says Barclays in a research note.
