OT. US trade deficit widens to record 26.5 billion in November
The US trade deficit widened to a record 26.5 billion dollars in November from 25.6 billion in October, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
The gap was larger than had been expected, as Wall Street analysts foresaw a deficit of 25.4 billion dollars.
Imports rose 1.4 percent in November to a record 109.394 billion dollars while exports went up 0.7 percent to 82.891 billion dollars.
The shortfall with Japan widened to 6.367 billion dollars from 5.835 billion a year earlier. In October, the trade deficit with Japan was a record 7.179 billion dollars.
With China, the deficit widened to 6.491 billion dollars from 5.057 billion a year earlier but narrowed when compared with October, when the shortfall was a record 7.152 billion dollars.
November imports from Western Europe soared to a record 20 billion dollars, reflecting a rise in purchases of capital goods, led by computers and semiconductors, and automobiles, the Commerce Department said.
Overall, capital goods imports rose 1.3 percent to a record 26.18 billion dollars.
Imports of computers were up 3.4 percent to 6.08 billion dollars. Semiconductor imports gained three percent to 3.39 billion dollars.
Auto and auto parts imports also increased three percent to reach 15.53 billion dollars in November.
Consumer goods imports hit a record 21.17 billion dollars, up 1.1 percent compared with October.
The rise in exports reflected gains in industrial supplies, primarily non-monetary gold and capital goods, the department said.
Exports of civilian aircraft declined 20.6 percent to 2.19 billion dollars from the previous month.
The merchandise trade deficit widened 1.4 percent to a record 30.8 billion dollars from the previous month.
In the services-only category, the surplus narrowed five percent to 5.9 billion dollars.
Excluding petroleum, the trade deficit widened 1.6 percent to 31.3 billion dollars from the previous month.
The price of imported crude oil rose to 20.90 dollars a barrel -- the highest level since January 1997 -- from 20.74 dollars in October and 10.79 a year earlier.
The cost of petroleum imports rose 17.79 million dollars to 5.499 billion. The volume of oil imports rose to an average 8.77 million barrels per day from 8.53 million.
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