Wednesday, October 7, 2009
International Trade
The U.S. international trade gap in July worsened significantly and oil had only a little to do with it. The overall U.S. trade gap worsened to $32.0 billion from a revised $27.5 billion gap in June. But in the detail, there is good news for U.S. manufacturers as exports posted a gain of 2.2 percent after a 2.1 percent increase in June. However, imports jumped 4.7 percent after a 2.5 percent rise in June. The worsening in the trade deficit was due to a wider nonpetroleum goods deficit which grew to $23.5 billion from $19.8 billion the previous month. Import gains were widespread but led by autos and consumer goods. Meanwhile, the petroleum gap grew to $17.9 billion from $17.3 billion the previous month. Looking ahead to August, don't look for help for the trade gap from lower oil prices. Although crude prices fell notably for the month-that is on a not seasonally adjusted basis. Seasonally adjusted, crude oil prices rose about 1.7 percent.
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