WASHINGTON: The U.S. goods trade deficit narrowed slightly in November, as both exports and imports weakened, the Commerce Department said.
The trade gap narrowed 1.3% in November to $60.5 billion from a revised $61.3 billion in October. The deficit was smaller than the MarketWatch-compiled forecast of $61.9 billion.
Exports of goods shrank 2% to $121 billion in November with broad-based declines across sectors. Imports dropped 1.8% to $181.5 billion, with the drop concentrated in consumer goods.
These steep declines do not “imply anything good about global and domestic demand,” said Ted Wieseman, an economist at Morgan Stanley.
The strong dollar and weakness in major global economies has hit the trade sector hard.
Exports in November are at their lowest levels in almost five years, while imports are at the lowest level since early 2011, Wieseman noted.
The advance snapshot on monthly goods trade was designed to allow the government to include three months of trade data in its first estimate of gross domestic product. A more comprehensive report on the deficit for both goods and services in November will be released on Jan. 6.
Trade has been a drag on growth in five of the last seven quarters.
Today’s data is “arithmetically a bit positive for the current quarter growth picture,” Wieseman said, but he still sees trade being a slight drag on growth this quarter. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expect 2% fourth-quarter growth, matching the growth rate in the July-September quarter.
Trade subtracting 0.26 percentage point from growth in the July-September quarter.
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