Friday January 11, 05:45 PM
US November trade deficit up 9.3 pct to 63.1 bln usd UPDATE
(Updating with analyst reaction)
WASHINGTON (Thomson Financial) - The US trade deficit shot up unexpectedly in November (Frankfurt: A0S9N7 - news) , driven by record high oil prices and a slump in the aircraft exports which usually offset rising imports.
The Commerce Department reported a 5.4 bln usd, or 9.3 pct increase in the November trade gap to 63.1 bln usd from the unchanged 57.8 bln usd deficit in October.
That was well above the small expected increase to 58.6 bln usd and it was the biggest trade gap in more than a year. 'It reverses the positive trend in the current account improvement and suggests Q4 GDP will struggle to rise by 0.5 pct,' said Jeoff Hall at Thomson IFR Markets.
Imports rose 6.0 bln usd, or 3.0 pct, and 4.8 bln usd of that increase was crude oil and other petroleum products.
The average price of an imported barrel of oil rose 7.16 usd, a record monthly increase and a 9.9 pct jump to a record high 79.65 bln usd.
The increase wasn't just about oil, however. The non-petroleum trade deficit reversed a four-month downward path, rising to 40.6 bln usd.
Robert Brusca of FAO Economics was pessimistic about the report. 'The trade picture is almost grim for a country whose exchange rate has dropped as much as the greenbacks has,' he said. 'Any more dropping and they may have to rename it the yellow-back for cowardliness'.
Imports of consumer goods rose 796 mln usd as retailers brought in the last of their holiday inventories. There were also increases in auto and capital goods imports.
Exports for November went up just 600 mln usd or 0.4 pct. The problem was a 948 mln usd falloff in foreign deliveries of civilian aircraft. Boeing (NYSE: BA - news) 's sales are frequently the single biggest monthly figure in US exports that provide a compensating factor in the trade deficit calculation.
However the Boeing sales trend is 'very strong, so this is likely temporary,' said High Frequency Economics's Ian Shepherdson.
The US did have its second largest month for auto exports at 467 mln usd. And a record services surplus of 9.6 bln usd also helped to offset the import surge.
'Although, demand for goods from abroad remained relatively stout,' said Joseph Brusuelas of IDEAglobal, 'the recent improvement in the fortunes of the dollar and the visible cooling in the UK and Japan may not provide as robust a pillar for overall output throughout 2008 as is commonly assumed.'
|
|
|
Send Article by Email
Send Article by IM
Blog This with Y! 360
Printable View
