The April 2011 international trade deficit fell 6.7%, to $43.7 billion. Exports rose 1.3%, to $175.6 billion, while imports decreased 0.4%, to $219.2 billion.
Among the slew of data that accompanies the U.S. Census Bureau’s release of April export and import data on Thursday, three items deserve special attention.
The March 2011 international trade deficit grew 6.0%, to $48.2 billion. Exports rose by 4.6%, to $172.7 billion. Imports increased 4.9%, to $220.8 billion.
Today’s release fills out the first quarter data on U.S. international trade, so let’s focus on the first quarter data compared to the last quarter of 2010. What we said last month holds especially true now: never put too much focus on a single month’s trade numbers, as the monthly wiggles can be largely influenced by a wide set of idiosyncratic factors.
As we have emphasized in the past, never put too much focus on a single month’s trade numbers, as the monthly wiggles can be largely influenced by a wide set of idiosyncratic factors, such as exports of aircraft, imports of oil, spikes in the trading of pharmaceuticals, seasonal adjustments, the date of the Chinese New Year (seriously, see below)…
Before delving into some of the more interesting "weeds" of today's trade numbers, the top line stats show that imports decreased $3.6 billion in February from January, exports decreased $2.4 billion, and the trade deficit improved by $1.2 billion.
