U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly shrinks 6.6 percent
Published: March 11, 2010
Font size: [A] [A] [A]
After widening dramatically for two months, the U.S. trade deficit reversed course and narrowed unexpectedly in January, as the government's latest data on imports and exports suggest that the global economic recovery remains tentative, MarketWatch.com reported March 11.
The trade deficit shrank a seasonally adjusted 6.6 percent to $37.29 billion from $39.90 billion in December, as both imports and exports fell, the Commerce Department said March 11.
The one-month improvement in the deficit marked the biggest since last September.
The trade gap had jumped by 9.7 percent in November and by 10.5 percent in December -- reports that economists said had a "strong-economy" feel about them as the appetite for imported goods was robust.
Many economists had based their forecast of a higher trade gap for January on a price-related rise in oil imports, but this proved not to be the case. On an unadjusted basis, crude imports fell to 245 million barrels, the lowest since February 1999.
Compared to other data, the deficit hasn't been front and center for traders or policy makers in recent months.
Economists offered cautious reactions, with most seeing it as more of a pause than a new downward trend that won't derail -- but that may slow -- the recovery in global trade.
The deficit between what the U.S. exports and what it imports remains well above the low point of a $25.76 billion deficit hit last May.
