The US trade deficit widened more than expected in January to a record $68.5 billion, as record imports fuelled by high oil prices outstripped record exports propelled by stronger foreign demand, a US Commerce Department report showed on Thursday.
The monthly trade gap swelled 5.3 percent from a revised estimate of $65.1 billion in December. It also surpassed a median forecast of $66.5 billion made by Wall Street analysts.
January's biggest ever monthly deficit follows a record annual trade deficit of $723.6 billion in 2005. The trade gap would easily set a new record, exceeding $800 billion, in 2006 if it continued to run at the pace set in the first month of the year.
The higher-than-expected trade deficit could prompt economists to lower their estimates of first-quarter US economic growth, "but it's much too early in the process" to say for sure, said Kathleen Stephansen, director of global economics at Credit Suisse in New York.
"We know GDP is going to be very strong, so the thing that is interesting is you've got fairly robust, I think, growth in exports at up 2.5 percent," she said.
Separately, a Labour Department report showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly last week to 303,000, the highest level since the start of the year, from 295,000 the prior week. Economists had expected claims to fall to 290,000.
Thursday's data helped trim early trading losses in US Treasury debt prices.
High prices for imported oil, which increased more than 4 percent in January to $51.93 per barrel, helped push the trade gap to a new record. The United States ran an $8.4 billion deficit with the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, growing 11.6 percent from December.
But analysts pointed out that expensive oil was not the only reason behind the burgeoning trade gap.
Overall imports were $182.9 billion, up 3.5 percent from December. Imports set records in several categories, including food, feeds and beverages, industrial supplies and materials, capital goods, autos and auto parts and consumer goods.
"You can't blame it all on energy because the trade deficit excluding petroleum rose faster than the overall deficit. The main culprit once again continues to be that imports are growing faster than exports," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at Spencer Clarke in New York.
The monthly trade gap with China widened 9.9 percent to $17.9 billion in January. The persistent deficit with China, the United States' largest with any single country, has fuelled charges in Congress that China is an unfair trader that manipulates its currency to gain a trade advantage. Manufacturers and politicians have demanded that Beijing revalue its yuan currency.
In a sign of improved economic growth overseas, US exports also increased in January to a record $114.4 billion, up 2.5 percent from the prior month.
The export rise was led by record shipments of industrial supplies and materials, capital goods and auto and auto parts.
"Most of the gain in exports seems to be in civilian aircraft which is extremely volatile month to month," Sheldon said.
Comments
Comments are closed.