The trade balance has begun to matter again. After all, lower energy imports and higher energy exports have been a game changer in America. That being said, should we be concerned that one month’s report from the Commerce Department showed a wider trade deficit?
For starters, this was a February number, and that makes the data now more than six weeks old on average. Much of the central part of America and the Northeast were still suffering from adverse weather conditions for part of the month. Unfortunately, this was still the widest trade deficit in about five months, and that caused some raise eyebrows.
A driving force behind the wider deficit was lower exports of energy and capital equipment — taking the total to a deficit of $42.3 billion from $39.3 billion the prior month. Bloomberg was calling for the reading to be a $38.8 billion deficit, and Dow Jones called for a $38.6 billion deficit.
We might point out that the wider deficit will hurt growth in the quarter, but the reality is that it could very well just be an anomaly. Perhaps no rate change from the European Central Bank, while keeping the door open for their own round of quantitative easing, matters more in the grand scheme of things.
Take This Retirement Quiz To Get Matched With An Advisor Now (Sponsored)
Are you ready for retirement? Planning for retirement can be overwhelming, that’s why it could be a good idea to speak to a fiduciary financial advisor about your goals today.
Start by taking this retirement quiz right here from SmartAsset that will match you with up to 3 financial advisors that serve your area and beyond in 5 minutes. Smart Asset is now matching over 50,000 people a month.
Click here now to get started.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.