September Trade Deficit Lowest In Seven Months

The U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, also known as the FT-900, is published monthly by the Bureau of Economic Analysis with data going back to 1992. The monthly reports include revisions that go back several months. This report details U.S. exports and imports of goods and services.

The Bretton Woods agreement, which established a stable foreign currency exchange system (as well as created the International Monetary Fund), collapsed in 1971 and as a result, currency values began to float freely and the US dollar was no longer tied to gold values. Since 1976, the United States has had an annual negative trade deficit.

Here is an excerpt from the latest report:

The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the Department of Commerce, announced today that the goods and services deficit was $40.8 billion in September, down $7.2 billion from $48.0 billion in August, revised. September exports were $187.9 billion, $3.0 billion more than August exports. September imports were $228.7 billion, $4.2 billion less than August imports.

The September decrease in the goods and services deficit reflected a decrease in the goods deficit of $7.3 billion to $60.3 billion and a decrease in the services surplus of $0.1 billion to $19.5 billion.

Year-to-date, the goods and services deficit increased $14.9 billion, or 3.9 percent, from the same period in 2014. Exports decreased $66.3 billion or 3.8 percent. Imports decreased $51.3 billion or 2.4 percent.

This series tends to be extremely volatile, so we use a six-month moving average. Today’s headline number of -40.81B was better than the Investing.com forecast of -41.10B. The previous month was revised upward by 313M. The September deficit was the lowest monthly number since February.