WASHINGTON – The nation’s trade deficit shrank 4.05 percent in June to $56.8 billion from May’s downwardly revised $59.2 billion, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) said in a report today. The decline, which defied both analyst expectations and record oil prices, was the second in as many months.
Analysts had expected the gap would widen to $62 billion – from the government’s original May estimate of $59.8 billion (READ MORE) – based on the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. (Their June projections ranged from $58 billion to $65.7 billion.)
U.S. exports of goods and services rose to a June total of $164.4 billion, or $6.4 billion more than in May. Meanwhile, U.S. imports of goods and services rose to $221.2 billion, or $3.9 billion above their May level, the BEA said.
“The balance of trade may continue to show some improvement, but I think export growth probably hit a peak,” David Resler, chief U.S. economist at Nomura Securities International Inc. in New York, told Bloomberg Radio.
Additional information, including the full U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services news release, is available from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis at www.bea.gov.
