US international trade shortfall dips in December

America's trade shortfall with the rest of the world narrowed a tad in December as goods exports picked up, with economists projecting the drag on gross domestic product in the fourth quarter was set to ease at the start of 2017.

The US trade deficit dipped from -$45.7bn in November to -$44.3bn in December, according to the Department of Commerce (consensus: -$45.0bn).

A larger surplus in sales of civilian aircraft, which increased by $1.2bn, saw the ex-petroleum goods balance improve by $1.0bn to -$9.5bn, Pantheon Macroeconomics pointed out.

Goods and services exports grew by 0.4% month-on-month, with those of goods 3.9% ahead versus a 0.4% rise in imports.

Imports on the other hand were up by 1.5% on the month, for a third consecutive monthly gain following several months of weakness, Barclays Research said.

Net trade subtracted 1.7 percentage points from the rate of growth in gross domestic product during the fourth quarter of 2016, amid strong import demand, but Blerina Uruci at Barclays said that drag would taper to just 0.1 percentage points in the first three months of 2017.

Ian Sheperdson at Pantheon Macroeconomics was of a broadly similar view, forecasting a dip in the core trade deficit - excluding aircraft and oil, that is - in the next quarter, although rising oil prices were likely to push up on the headline deficit.

"We expect no repeat of the Q4 hit to GDP growth from net trade," Shepherdson said.