US trade deficit narrows in November to $42.374bn, driven by weak imports - ING

FXStreet (Delhi) - Rob Carnell, Research Analyst at ING, notes that the November US trade deficit narrowed by a little over $2bn to $42.374bn, which will help lift the 4Q15 GDP figures by about 0.1/0.2% relative to what a flat reading would have delivered (assuming this is sustained).

Key Quotes

“But this is not quite as good a data post as first glance shows. The deficit was not materially affected by petroleum flows or prices, with the ex-petroleum deficit actually narrowing even more than the headline figure.

What appears to be dominating this result is a sharp (1.7%mom) decline in imports, particularly on the goods side (service imports broadly unchanged). And this may reflect a much weaker level of underlying demand in the economy than some other recent data have suggested. Exports were a little softer too, but it is weak imports that dominated this result.”