US exports drop in November, weighed down by dollar strength

US exports to the rest of the world dropped sharply in October, as companies faced the headwind from a stronger greenback with volatility in energy prices also playing a hand.

Total sales abroad fell 1.4% month-on-month in nominal terms, with goods exports down by 2.4% over the month in real terms.

That saw the trade gap widen to $43.9bn in October from September's upwardly revised deficit of $42.5bn, according to the Department of Commerce.

September's tally had originally been put at -$40.8bn.

"On balance, the October trade report is consistent with our view that soft international demand and the strong dollar will lead net exports to continue to act as a headwind to GDP growth over the next several quarters," Barclays's Jesse Hurwitz said in a research note sent to clients.

On the back of the revisions to the September data included in Friday's report, Hurwitz estimated that the trade deficit subtracted 0.4 percentage points from the rte of growth in US GDP for the third quarter. That led him to lower his tracking estimate for Q3 growth from 2.0% to 1.8%.

As a result, his tracking estimate for the fourth quarter also came down, by one tenth of a percentage point to 2.0%.