Saturday, January 25, 2014

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Trade Gap Continues to Narrow

The trade gap narrowed by $1.8 billion in September according to a Bureau of Economic Analysis report released this morning. September’s trade deficit stood at $43.1 billion, falling from a downwardly revised $44.9 billion reported in August. This is the third consecutive month of decline and puts the trade deficit at its lowest level since December 2010.


Solid growth in exports and a modest rise in imports led the deficit to narrow. Exports rose by 1.4%, marking the third straight month of growth. Imports increased as well for the first time in four months but only by a meager 0.3%.

The goods deficit narrowed $2 billion to $58.9 billion. The entire narrowing in the goods deficit was due to the nonpetroleum balance, as the petroleum deficit rose by $0.4 billion.

The services surplus shrank by $0.2 billion to 15.8 billion. Despite the decline, the service surplus is up by $1.8 billion year-to-date.

Read the release.