CNN/Money 
News > Jobs & Economy
graphic
Trade gap hits record in March
Higher oil prices the catalyst as U.S. deficit rises to $45.96B, well above Wall Street's forecasts.
May 12, 2004: 9:36 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The U.S. trade deficit rose to a record $45.96 billion in March as rising oil prices put the gap well beyond Wall Street expectations.

YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
Trade Deficit
International Trade

Analysts surveyed by Briefing.com forecast the gap, reported by the Commerce Department, would rise to $43.0 billion from $42.1 billion in February. The previous record of $43.5 billion had been reached in the January report.

Exports from the nation actually increased 2.6 percent from February to a record $94.7 billion, as a weaker dollar helped make U.S. goods more competitive overseas.

But imports increased 4.6 percent to $140.7 billion in the month, as the higher oil prices and strengthening retail sales lifted the value of overseas goods bought by Americans. Total oil imports jumped more than 20 percent in March to a record $10.2 billion.

A second government report, this one from the Labor Department, showed that the amount spent on oil imports in April fell slightly, down 0.8 percent from March levels, while overall import prices edged up 0.2 percent in the month. The overall level of export prices rose 0.6 percent in April, according to the same report.

But oil prices have risen steadily since April, topping $40 a barrel the first week of May and again in trading Tuesday and Wednesday.

Economists pointed out that it wasn't just oil widening the trade gap. The signs of strength in the overall U.S. economy are also raising consumer demand for overseas products.

The imports are particularly strong in the consumer goods and capital goods areas, which is further evidence of powerful domestic demand growth," Pierre Ellis, senior international economist with Decision Economics in New York, told Reuters.  Top of page


Reuters contributed to this report




  More on NEWS
JPMorgan dramatically slashes Tesla's stock price forecast
Greece is finally done with its epic bailout binge
Europe is preparing another crackdown on Big Tech
  TODAY'S TOP STORIES
7 things to know before the bell
SoftBank and Toyota want driverless cars to change the world
Aston Martin falls 5% in its London IPO




graphic graphic

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.