No ‘V’ Here! US Trade Deficit Soars To Highest Since 2008
Tyler Durden
Thu, 09/03/2020 – 08:47
While hopes for a ‘v’ remain, the US trade balance data suggests it absolutely did not occur in July as the overall gap of goods and services expanded to $63.6 billion in July from a revised $53.5 billion in June, according to Commerce Department data. This was notably worse than the expected deficit of $58 billion and is the widest trade deficit since 2008…
Source: Bloomberg
Exports increased from the prior month by 8.1% to $168.1 billion, while imports gained 10.9% to $231.7 billion, the department said.
Goods trade fell to its lowest in at least 20 years while Services fell to the weakest since Aug 2012…
Source: Bloomberg
Together, the value of U.S. exports and imports rose to $399.8 billion, still well below pre-pandemic levels.
As Bloomberg notes, the widening in the trade deficit in July after narrowing the prior month shows that the U.S.’s economic recovery will come in fits and starts. Trade volumes are higher than May’s pandemic lows, but remain depressed following the initial uptick stemming from reopening measures.
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