The amounts: The advanced estimate from the Commerce Department released Thursday shows that the U.S. trade deficit in goods grew by 7.7% to $99.4 billion in April. Since May 2022, that’s the biggest deficit ever.
A poll of economists by Econoday found that most of them thought the deficit would grow to $92.5 billion.
The report also showed that wholesale inventories went up by 0.2% in April, after going down by 0.4% the previous month. And retail inventories that were already out there went up 0.7%, after going up 0.1% in March. If you take out cars, retail inventories went up 0.3%.
There was a sharp 3.1% rise in imports to $269.3 billion in April, and a 0.5% rise in exports to $169.9 billion.
It’s clear from the numbers that the U.S. consumer still has strong demand compared to people in other countries.
Just like in the past few months, trade is likely to hurt GDP in the second quarter.
There was a reaction in the market. The SPX DJIA was going to open lower on Thursday, and the 10-year Treasury yield BX:TMUBMUSD10Y was down to 4.563% early in the morning.
