U.S. trade deficit drops 10% in February
Source: MarketWatch
U.S. trade deficit drops 10% in February
Published: Apr 4, 2017 10:35 a.m. ET
By Jeffry Bartash
Reporter
The U.S. trade deficit sank almost 10% in February, aided by an increase in exports to a 26-month high and a plunge in imports of autos, cellphones and other consumer goods.
The deficit fell to $43.6 billion in February, more than canceling out a big increase in January that raised the nations trade gap to a five-year high of $48.2 billion. Figures are seasonally adjusted.
The ups and downs in the deficit in the first two months of the year largely stem from the timing of the Chinese lunar new year. Imports from China tend to surge before the prolonged holiday period and subside afterward.
At the same time, though, U.S. exports rose for the third month in a row and are nearly 7% higher compared to a year ago. U.S. exports rose 0.2% to $192.9 billion the most since December 2014.
Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-trade-deficit-drops-10-in-february-2017-04-04
Make sure to read beyond the headline to understand what has happened here.
U.S. trade deficit jumps to 5-year high in January
http://www.democraticunderground.com/111679886
Jeffry Bartash: @jbartash
https://twitter.com/jbartash
Covering US economy and efforts by Washington to ... dabble with it. Send comments to jeffry.bartash@dowjones.com
U.S. trade deficit jumps to 5-year high in January
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-trade-deficit-jumps-to-5-year-high-in-january-2017-03-07
Published: Mar 7, 2017 10:04 a.m. ET
By Jeffry Bartash
Reporter
Trump White House faces tough task to slash trade gap
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) The U.S. trade deficit shot up in January to a five-year high, underscoring the daunting problem faced by a Trump administration determined to reduce the gap.
The trade deficit rose 9.6% to $48.5 billion in January* from a revised $44.3 billion in December, the government said Tuesday. Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast a gap of $48.8 billion. Figures are seasonally adjusted.
{snip interactive graph}
The wider deficit was spurred by a 2.3% increase in imports of consumer goods such as cell phones from China and other countries. The higher cost of oil also boosted the value of U.S. imports. ... Imports totaled $240.6 billion in January.
More imports from other countries isnt necessarily a bad thing. Americans are better off financially than people in many other countries because of steady growth thats reduced joblessness to an eight-year low. They can afford to buy more goods and services.
* https://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/international/trade/2017/trad0117.htm
So from December to January, it's up just shy of 10%. From January to February, it's down 10%. We're essentially back to where we started three months ago. Why the volatility?
As Jeffry Bartash says in this month's (April's) article:
The ups and downs in the deficit in the first two months of the year largely stem from the timing of the Chinese lunar new year. Imports from China tend to surge before the prolonged holiday period and subside afterward.
Wanna bet that not everyone will mention this?
= new reply since forum marked as read
IMHO - This Marketwatch "prick" knows exactly what the fuck he is doing.
The actual story is that the trade deficit soared 9% in January, and is now back to where it was in December.
Now, if this "prick" (my term for journalists who serve as propagandist for the ReTrumplicans"
wanted to write an "accurate" headline, it would be "Trade Deficit returns to December levels".
Instead, he puts this Pro-Trump "blinking light" headline out there. "Trade Deficit Drops 10% in February"
the "prick" knows that as soon as he writes that bogus (technically true, but ultimately Bullshit) headline, it will be shared by a thousand rightwing echo chamber sites and then tweeted by "Donnie Short-Fingers".
Our so-called "journalists" need to be reminded that scores of propagandists were hung after WWII.
