U.S. Trade Deficit Widens More Than Expected In July

(RTTNews) - With an increase in the value of imports outpacing an increase in the value of exports, the U.S. trade deficit widened more than expected in the month of July, according to a report released by the Department of Commerce on Thursday.

The report showed that the trade deficit widened to $62.2 billion in July from a revised $58.8 billion in June. Economists had expected the deficit to widen to $58.0 billion from the $56.8 billion originally reported for the previous month.

The wider than expected trade deficit came as the value of imports rose 3.9 percent to $230.3 billion in July from $221.6 billion in June, outpacing a 3.3 percent increase in the value of exports to $168.1 billion from $162.8 billion.

Additionally, the Commerce Department said that goods deficit widened to $74.9 billion in July from $71.3 billion in June. At the same time, the services surplus widened to $12.7 billion in July from $12.4 billion in the previous month.

The report also showed that the politically sensitive trade deficit with China widened to $24.9 billion in July from $21.4 billion in June.

In other trade-related economic news, import and export prices experienced notable decreases in the month of August, according to a report released by the Department of Labor on Thursday, with the drop in import prices reflecting a steep drop in the prices of petroleum imports.

The report showed that import prices fell 3.7 percent in August after edging up 0.2 percent in July. This marked the first decrease in import prices since a much more modest 0.2 percent decrease in December of 2007.

A 12.8 percent decrease in the prices of petroleum imports contributed to the decrease in imports, although import prices still edged down 0.3 percent excluding petroleum imports.

The Labor Department added that export prices fell by 1.7 percent in August following a 1.5 percent increase in July. The decrease was largely due to a 9.6 percent decrease in the prices of agricultural exports.

Excluding agricultural exports, export prices still fell by 0.7 percent after rising by 0.9 percent in each of the two previous months.

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Posted in Categories: Economy, Forex, Releases, USA.