US foreign trade deficit jumps unexpectedly in October

The US trade deficit in goods jumped last month as import growth picked up and exports slipped.

America's shortfall in foreign trade with the rest of the world widened by 6.5% to $68.3bn, according to the Department of Commerce.

Economists had forecast an increase to -$65.3bn.

In comparison to September, exports shrank by $1.3bn to $129.1bn while imports rose by $2.9bn to $197.4bn.

By way of an immediate reaction, Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: "One month's data proves nothing, but this is alarming because the strong ISM export orders index points to much stronger exports than are being captured by the hard data; we don't know what explains the gap. This report will feed into lower estimates for Q4 GDP growth, though 3% still looks achievable."