US: Trade deficit getting wider and wider - Rabobank

Stefan Koopman, Market Economist at Rabobank, notes that according to the latest US trade figures, the deficit in February was even wider than projected in last week’s advanced estimate.

Key Quotes

“Imports of goods exceeded exports by USD 47.1bn in February, instead of the USD 45.9bn that was estimated previously. A bigger trade deficit subtracts from economic growth, something which the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model now predicts to be just 0.4% in Q1.

On a more positive note, both imports and exports increased (the latter for the first time in five months), which might signal that global demand appears to have stabilized after a few wobbly months.”