Reflecting a jump in the value of imports, the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing the U.S. trade deficit widened by more than expected in the month of November.<\/p>\n
The Commerce Department said the trade deficit widened to $68.1 billion in November from $63.1 billion in October. Economists had expected the deficit to widen to $65.2 billion.<\/p>\n
The trade deficit in November was the largest since the deficit reached a record $68.3 billion in August of 2006.<\/p>\n
The wider than expected trade deficit came as the value of imports spiked by 2.9 percent to $252.3 billion, outpacing a 1.2 percent jump in the value of exports to $184.2 billion.<\/p>\n
“The widening of the trade deficit in November came as import growth continued to outpace export growth and means net trade will be a significant drag on fourth quarter GDP growth,” said Michael Pearce, Senior U.S. Economist at Capital Economics.<\/p>\n
He added, “Those additional imports are helping to rebuild inventories, however, which will provide an offsetting positive boost, meaning we still estimate that GDP growth last quarter was close to 3% annualized.”<\/p>\n
The sharp increase in the value of imports was partly due to a spike in imports of consumer goods, particularly cell phones and other household goods.<\/p>\n
Imports of industrial supplies and materials and capital goods also saw notable growth, while imports of passenger cars slumped.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the report showed a sizable increase in exports of services as well as upticks in exports of natural gas and foods, feeds and beverages.<\/p>\n
The Commerce Department said the goods deficit widened to $86.4 billion in November from $81.4 billion in October, while the services surplus was nearly unchanged at $18.2 billion. <\/p>\n