USD gets a boost from Trade Balance report that shows deficit narrowed 6.9%., lower jobless claims.

February 14, 2008 - Forex Economic News

USD gets a boost from Trade Balance report that shows deficit narrowed 6.9%., weekly jobless claims fall.

The U.S. dollar got a temporary boost from better than expected trade balance numbers released today by the Commerce Department. The December trade deficit of goods and services narrowed to $58.8 billion, down 6.9 percent from $63.1 billion in November. Total imports for December amounted to $203.1 billion while total exports were $144.3 billion. Imports for December declined compared to November while the exports compared to November increased.

The U.S. trade balance for all of 2007 showed a decrease in the deficit for the first time in 5 years. The trade deficit for the year of goods and services declined 6.2 percent to $711.6 billion, $46.9 billion less than the 2006 deficit of $758.5 billion. Total exports for 2007 were $1,621.8 billion and the total imports were $2,333.4 billion. The U.S. trade deficit with China increased by 10.2 percent for the year to a record $256.3 billion.

Weekly Jobless Claims decrease.

Weekly U.S. jobless claims decreased in the week that ended on February 9th according to the U.S. Labor Department today. Jobless claims totaled 348,000 unemployed workers, a decline of 9,000 from 357,000 unemployed workers the week before. A 4-week moving average increased by 12,000 from the prior week to 347,250.

The U.S. dollar got a boost against the euro after the news releases as the Eur/Usd currency pair touched 1.4574 before giving back its gains.

Tags: trade balance, jobless claims, eur/usd, trade deficit, imports, exports

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