U.S. Trade Deficit Shrinks To Smallest In Over 16 Years In October

(RTTNews) - The Commerce Department released a report on Thursday unexpectedly showing a significant decrease in the size of the U.S. trade deficit in the month of October.

The report said the trade deficit narrowed to $29.4 billion in October from a downwardly revised $48.1 billion in September.

Economists had expected the trade deficit to increase to $58.9 billion from the $52.8 billion originally reported for the previous month.

With the unexpected decrease, the trade deficit shrank to its smallest since hitting $27.2 billion in June of 2009.

"October's report suggests net trade could contribute up to 3ppts to Q4 GDP growth, which adds considerable upside risk to our forecast," said Grace Zwemmer, Associate Economist at Oxford Economics.

The unexpectedly narrower trade deficit came amid a steep drop in the value of imports and a surge in the value of exports.

The report said the value of imports plunged by 3.2 percent to $331.4 billion in October after climbing by 0.8 percent to $342.4 billion in September.

The sharp pullback by the value of imports primarily reflected a nosedive by imports of pharmaceuticals.

Imports of industrial supplies and materials also decreased, while imports of capital goods such as computer accessories and telecom equipment increased.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said the value of exports shot up by 2.6 percent to $302.0 billion in October after spiking by 3.6 percent to $294.2 billion in September.

The report showed a sharp increase in exports of industrial supplies and materials, including non-monetary gold and other precious metals, while exports of pharmaceuticals and other goods edged lower.

The Commerce Department also said the goods deficit narrowed to $59.1 billion in October from $78.3 billion in September, while the services surplus slipped to $29.8 billion in October from $30.2 billion in September.

"Data from major US ports suggests exports decreased in November," said Zwemmer. "This could signal a slight widening of the trade deficit in the next trade report."