NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The U.S. trade deficit shrank in January, but stayed near December's record level, the government said Wednesday, as U.S. demand for imported goods continued to outpace overseas demand for U.S. exports.

The Commerce Department reported the gap between exports and imports fell 8.4 percent -- the biggest drop since 8.8 percent in December 2001 -- to $41.12 billion from a revised $44.88 billion in December. Economists, on average, expected a trade gap of $42.8 billion, according to a Reuters poll.

The report had little impact on U.S. stock market futures, which continued to trade lower, pointing to a negative opening on Wall Street. Treasury bond prices were mostly higher.

Some economists are concerned about the size of the trade gap, which makes up the biggest part of the U.S. deficit in its current account, a measure of all the money circulating between the United States and other nations.

The current account and budget deficits together swelled last year to levels not seen since the mid-1980s and could approach a new record this year. It's a sign Americans are, in a sense, living beyond their means.

Economists believe as long as overseas investors continue to "finance" the deficits by putting their money in American markets, everything will be fine. A rush to leave U.S. assets, however, could cause trouble for the economy.

In the Commerce Department report, imports fell 2.0 percent to $123.02 billion in January, while exports rose 1.6 percent to $81.91 billion. Though the numbers were moving in the right direction, the gap between them was a sign that, however sluggish the U.S. economy might be, it's still outpacing many of its trading partners.

Contributing to the high level of imports was a dramatic, $3.58-per-barrel surge in oil prices, the biggest one-month gain since October 1990. Imported oil prices rose to $27.73, the highest level since $28.34 in November 2000.

Meanwhile, growth has slowed so much in Europe the normally cautious European Central Bank last week cut its key short-term interest rate to the lowest level in four years. Nevertheless, the U.S. trade gap with European Union nations fell to $6.5 billion from $9.1 billion in December.

The key stock index of the world's second-biggest economy, Japan, fell to new 20-year lows this week, while a surge in the value of the Japanese yen threatens to add to that economy's long-lasting pain.

The U.S. trade deficit with Japan, once the biggest U.S. source for imported goods, dropped sharply to $5.22 billion from $7.13 billion in December.

The up-and-coming economy of China is still growing robustly, but it's also responsible for the biggest chunk of the U.S. trade gap. Americans imported $9.42 billion more in goods and services from China than they exported in January.