US trade deficit shrinks 18% in October from record high as exports surge
The numbers: The US trade deficit fell by nearly 18 percent in October after a spike in exports and barely growing imports. Traffic congestion at domestic ports has slowed the arrival of foreign-made goods.
The trade gap has narrowed to $67.1 billion from a record $81.4 billion last month, government said on Tuesday. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a $67 billion deficit.
US exports up 8.1% to $223.6 billion
Imports rose less than 1% to $290.7 billion in October.
Big picture: The October trade gap, which has fallen sharply from a record high just a month earlier, may have been a one-off.
The increase in exports will not be sustained, and ongoing delays at US ports in unloading pending ships have limited imports. Those issues will eventually clear up.
Throughout the pandemic, the United States has had an unusually high deficit. Americans bought a lot of foreign-made goods amid a strong economic recovery, but other countries recovered more slowly and that reduced their appetite for American-made goods. .
Read: Jekyll-and-Hyde US jobs report isn’t as bad as it looksNS
Market reaction: Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
and S&P500
SPX,
was set to open higher in Tuesday’s trades.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/u-s-trade-deficit-sinks-18-in-october-as-exports-surge-11638884607?rss=1&siteid=rss US trade deficit shrinks 18% in October from record high as exports surge
