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Strategies & Market Trends : Asia Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sam who wrote (8500)	4/20/1999 11:18:00 AM
From: MikeM54321	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9980

Re: Record Trade Gap Thread, Did anyone catch this piece of news?! I sure hope the world keeps on loving the greenback. I bet no economist, having been told our trade gap would have hit $19 billion, would have predicted that the US$ would have stayed as strong as it has. What an unusual set of circumstances all over the world to create our current situation. Reminds me of a Chinese acrobat, balancing all those dozens of spinning plates on sticks. If I recall correctly Alan Greenspan mentioned our current account deficit as one of his concerns during his last testimony before members of congress. I believe he said we can't expect it to go on forever in record territory. What does a fed chief do to make sure the plates stay balanced and spinning? I think he may be pushed between a rock and a hard place if this keeps up. MikeM(From Florida) -------------------------- Trade gap hits record $19B Americans can't get enough foreign goods By Rex Nutting, CBS MarketWatch Apr 20 WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- American consumers and businesses gobbled up record amounts of foreign cars, consumer goods and capital goods in February, driving the trade deficit to a record $19.4 billion in February, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. The trade gap widened 15.6 percent from January's revised $16.8 billion. Economists surveyed by CBS.MarketWatch.com expected the gap to narrow to $16.5 billion. Exports from U.S. producers fell (by 0.6 percent) for the fourth month in a row to $76.6 billion, while imports surged 2.3 percent to a record $96 billion. The trade figures perfectly illustrate the central fact about the global economy today: The United States is "an oasis of prosperity," to use Alan Greenspan's phrase. Demand in most of the world remains weak while Americans enjoy a strong economy and stable prices. The decline in exports was more than accounted by a $927 million drop in aircraft and aircraft parts. Exports of foods and feeds fell $103 million. Exports of autos, consumer goods and industrial supplies all rose. The export picture is not all gloom. Sales increased in all of the nation's big markets: Canada, Japan, Mexico, Britain and Germany. Sales to China and the OPEC nations also rose. But exports to South and Central America and Asia's newly industrialized countries continued to fall. Exports to Brazil fell 18 percent to $910 million. Exports to Singapore dropped 25 percent to $1.1 billion. The struggling nations of the South didn't flood the American market with goods in February. Imports from the Brazil, the Asian tigers and China fell in February. Imports from Western Europe soared 9.7 percent to $15.8 billion while imports from Japan rose 8.3 percent to $10.1 billion. The explosion of imports was based on a nearly $1 billion increase in consumer goods, like apparel, toys and electronic equipment, to a record $19.6 billion. Imports of capital goods rose $696 million to a record $23.8 billion on soaring demand for computer accessories, telecommunications equipment, semiconductors and industrial machinery. Auto imports rose $710 million to a record $14.6 billion. Imports of industrial supplies fell $169 million on much lower demand for iron and steel. Crude oil imports fell $42 million to $2.5 billion. The February figures do not pick up the jump in oil prices since then.