US merchandise trade gap widened to US$67.6b in April

[WASHINGTON] America's merchandise trade deficit widened to US$67.6 billion in April from a revised US$65.1 billion a month earlier, an advance report from the Commerce Department showed on Thursday.

The goods-trade deficit, which rose 3.8 per cent last month, was larger than the US$64.5 billion median forecast in a Bloomberg survey. The report also showed 0.3 per cent declines in both wholesale and retail inventories.

Trade contributed little to first-quarter growth after subtracting 1.82 percentage points in the final three months of 2016, according to the government's figures on gross domestic product. Inventories subtracted 0.93 percentage point in the first quarter.

BLOOMBERG