By CountingPips.com
The United States trade deficit decreased more than expected in August as exports rose and imports fell according to a release by the Commerce Department today. The U.S. trade deficit declined by 3.5 percent as the deficit registered $30.7 billion in August following a revised deficit of $31.9 billion in July. Market forecasts were
Helped by a weaker U.S. dollar, the U.S. had a total of $128.2 billion worth of exports in August which was a increase of $0.2 billion over July’s total. August saw a reduction in imports with a total of $158.9 billion worth of imports compared with $159.8 billion in July for a decrease of $0.9 billion. Also contributing to the lower trade deficit in August was a decrease in imports of petroleum products which declined by 5.7 percent for the month.
The politically sensitive U.S. trade deficit with China also edged down in August. The deficit with China declined to $20.2 billion from a deficit of $20.4 billion in July. Other notable U.S. trade deficits were with the European Union at a $5.4 billion, Japan at $4.3 billion, Mexico at $4.0 billion and OPEC at $6.4 billion. U.S. trade surpluses with other countries for August included Australia at $1.2 billion, Hong Kong at $1.3 billion, Singapore at $0.3 billion and Egypt at $0.4 billion.
US Dollar gains in Currency Trading today
The U.S. dollar has been mostly stronger in currency trading today against the other major currencies. The dollar gained today versus the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Swiss franc, Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar while falling against the Canadian dollar at 1:41 pm EDT according to currency data by Oanda.
The U.S. stock markets have been positive at time of writing with the Dow Jones up by approximately 45 points, the Nasdaq gaining by roughly 10 points and the S&P 500 almost up by 3 points. Oil has been virtually unchanged today and trading around the $71.55 mark while gold has fallen by approximately $10.00 today to trade at the $1,044.50 level.
USD/JPY Chart – The US Dollar gaining in trading versus the Japanese Yen today. The USD/JPY is approaching the top of the downward sloping price channel after this week touching its lowest level since the end of January around the 88.00 level.
