[WASHINGTON] America's merchandise trade deficit shrank to US$56.9 billion in March, the lowest in more than a year, advanced data issued by the Commerce Department showed on Wednesday.

The 10.3 per cent improvement from February's final reading of a US$63.4 billion gap will help shape the government's initial estimate of first-quarter gross domestic product that comes out Thursday. The March deficit in goods was the smallest since February 2015 and was lower than the median forecast of US$62.8 billion, based on estimates from 41 economists in a Bloomberg survey.

BLOOMBERG