Increased capital goods imports drive wider US trade deficit in September
The US trade shortfall edged higher in September as imports of goods rose more than exports, led by increased demand for capital goods and industrial supplies.
America's total trade deficit in goods and services increased from -$42.8bn in August to -$43.5bn for September, according to the Department of Commerce, exactly as forecast by economists.
So while imports of goods and services rose by 1.2% month-on-month from $237.51bn to $240.3bn, exports were up by less, or 1.1% from $194.8bn to $196.8bn.
According to Commerce, purchases of goods from overseas were led by a $1.5bn increase in those for capital goods, including $0.5m-worth more of semiconductors.
Imports of industrial supplies and materials also grew, by $1.1bn, led by greater purchases of petroleum products which grew by $0.7m.
On the other side of the equation, a $1.1bn increase in crude oil shipments drove growth in goods exports, followed by a $0.8bn rise in those of "other goods".
"The September trade deficit widened in line with our expectation. The modest upward revision to the August trade deficit implies a slightly lower net exports number for Q3 than what was reported in the advance estimate last week," said Blerina Uruci and Pooka Sriram at Barclays Research.
Following Friday's trade numbers, Barclays left its tracking estimate for the rate of growth in US gross domestic product during the third quarter unchanged at 3.1%.