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Economy

U.S. Current Account Keeps Showing Smaller Deficits

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By Jon C. Ogg Published
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The U.S. current account aims to measure the nation’s international trade balance, and it considers all goods, services and unilateral transfers each quarter. Today’s report was a first-quarter measurement, so it should have little to no real impact on the markets. The trade deficit for the first quarter shared the same trend as the prior quarter by coming in lighter than expected at -$106.1 billion, versus the Bloomberg consensus reading of -$111.2 billion.

What economists will track is that the first quarter’s -$106.1 billion was also lower than the -$110.4 billion report of the fourth quarter of 2012 and the -$112.5 billion in the third quarter of 2012.

The United States has run a trade deficit for so long that it is hard for investors to care. Long-term planners and economists care, but the long and short of the matter is that this has not moved the needle for stocks or bonds in longer than memory can serve.

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About the Author Jon C. Ogg →

Jon Ogg has been a financial news analyst since 1997. Mr. Ogg set up one of the first audio squawk box services for traders called TTN, which he sold in 2003. He has previously worked as a licensed broker to some of the top U.S. and E.U. financial institutions, managed capital, and has raised private capital at the seed and venture stage. He has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as New York and Chicago, and he now lives in Houston, Texas. Jon received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance at University of Houston in 1992. a673b.bigscoots-temp.com.

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