The February US trade balance report:
- Prior reading was a $41.8B deficit (revised to $42.7B)
- Exports -1.6%
- Imports -4.4%
- Exports $186.25B vs $189.24B
- Imports $221.7B vs $231.9B
- Capital goods imports $47.9B vs $50.5B prior
- US-China trade deficit $22.5B vs $28.6B prior
The report says there were no special factors but there was a port strike on the West Coast and the import numbers -- especially from China -- are soft. It's positive for GDP but it's never as good when there is a smaller surplus just because imports fell faster than exports. It's better to be growing trade, both for the US and fhe global economy. I suspect there will be some give-back in March.