U.S. trade deficit to show big drop in March, advanced report indicates

[Cigar]

An early look at U.S. trade patterns in March points to a sharp drop in the nation’s trade deficit. The trade gap in goods — services are excluded — fell 9.5% to $56.9 billion. The goods deficit was $62.8 billion in the prior month.

See advanced trade report. (https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/advance/current/advance_report.pdf)

A smaller deficit in March could give first-quarter gross domestic product a nudge upward, though the number is still expected to be weak. A smaller deficit adds to GDP.

The U.S. government will release overall trade numbers for March next week, but the size of the trade deficit is generally tied to changes in exports and imports of goods. Trade patterns involving services rarely change much from month to month. ... In February, the government previously reported that the total U.S. trade deficit rose slightly to $47.1 billion.

On Thursday, the government is expected to report weak growth in the first quarter. Economists polled by MarketWatch forecast a 0.7% increase in GDP, down from 1.4% in the final three months of 1.4%.


http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-trade-deficit-to-show-big-drop-in-march-advanced-report-indicates-2016-04-27

[Mac-7]

Big deal.

in a month or so it will be larger than expected or back to its normal level.

show 4 quarters of decline and then 5 years before we get excited

[Cigar]

Big deal.

in a month or so it will be larger than expected or back to its normal level.

show 4 quarters of decline and then 5 years before we get excited

Yea Kinda like the Unemployment numbers ... :laugh:

[Mac-7]

Yea Kinda like the Unemployment numbers ... :laugh:

I'm glad to see a drop in imports.

Maybe driven by lower US consumer spending.

But china has been eating our lunch by $300 billion a year as long as obumer has been in office.

So I'm not going to swoon over a slight one month drop in the numbers

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - dat's why dem Chinamens is eatin' our lunch...
http://www.politicalforum.com/images/smilies/icon_grandma.gif
U.S. Merchandise Trade Deficit With China in October: $31,109,100,000
December 6, 2016 | The United States ran a $31,109,100,000 merchandise trade deficit with the People’s Republic of China in October, according to data released today by the Census Bureau.


This $31,109,100,000 bilateral merchandise trade deficit was by far the largest the U.S. ran with any trading partner for the month. The U.S. ran its second largest merchandise trade deficit in October with Mexico--a deficit of $6,194,000,000. The $31,109,100,000 U.S. merchandise trade deficit with China in October was more than five times the $6,194,000,000 trade deficit with Mexico.


http://www.cnsnews.com/s3/files/styles/content_100p/s3/top_ten_merhandise_trade_deficits-october-chart.jpg?itok=8-ZRuq6r

Filling out the Top Ten for bilateral U.S. merchandise trade deficits for October—after China and Mexico—were Japan ($5,928,900,000), Germany ($4,987,500,000), Ireland ($3,094,800,000), Vietnam ($2,553,600,000), India ($2,427,300,000), Italy ($2,334,500,000), Malaysia ($2,206,100,000) and France ($1,729,800,000). During October, according to the Census Bureau, the United States exported $12,698,000,000 in goods to China but imported $43,807,100,000 back from China. Thus, the value of the goods the U.S. imported from China was almost three and a half times the value of the goods that the U.S. exported to China.


http://cdn.cnsnews.com/styles/content_100p/s3/china-trade-2016-through_october-census_bureau.jpg?itok=pTKMo62v

So far in this calendar year (January through October), the U.S. has run a $288,780,900,000 merchandise trade deficit with China. In calendar year 2015, the U.S. ran a record $367,172,900,000 merchandise trade deficit with China, according to the Census Bureau. Worldwide in October, the U.S. ran a $63.4 billion merchandise trade deficit—importing $186.5 billion in goods while exporting $123.1 billion. The $63.4 billion merchandise trade deficit in October was up $6.3 billion from the $57.1 billion merchandise trade deficit in September.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/us-merchandise-trade-deficit-china-october-31109100000