US trade gap narrows to seven-month low in September

The US trade gap in goods narrowed more than expected in September to reach a seven-month low, figures released on Wednesday showed.

According to official government data, the trade gap in goods, excluding services, declined 13% month-on-month to $58.6bn compared with analyst expectations for a $64.3bn figure.

Nominal goods imports fell 2.6% month-on-month, while imports of capital goods and autos declined 2.5% and 3.2% respectively month-on-month.

Nonautomotive consumer goods imports declined 1.6% month-on-month, while exports rose 2.4%, boosted by an 11.2% month-on-month surge in consumer goods.

“We do now think that third-quarter GDP growth was 1.8% annualized rather than 1.5%,” said Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics.

“We still don’t think that would be strong enough to convince the Fed to raise interest rates as soon as December, however, since it would still be below the economy’s 2% potential growth rate.”