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June 11, 2018

U.S., Canadian Trade Deficits Improve In April

 

  • The U.S. trade deficit fell $1 billion from March to April to $46.2 billion. The manufacturing trade deficit also declined, falling $1 billion to $68.3 billion. The overall deficit was still 11.5 percent higher than it was in April 2017.
  • Canada’s trade deficit fell to C$1.9 billion in April from C$3.93 billion in March. Higher shipments of mineral products, consumer goods, and energy products helped close the gap. Canada’s trade surplus with the United States increased as exports to America rose 3.2 percent and imports fell 1.4 percent. According to The Wall Street Journal, Canadian exports of metal and nonmetallic mineral products increased 9.1 percent, led by shipments of unwrought precious metals and precious metal alloys.
  • New orders for manufactured goods in the United States fell 0.8 percent from March to April to $494.4 billion. Shipments were virtually unchanged while the number of unfilled orders, up five of the last six months, increased 0.5 percent to $1.1 trillion. The unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio is now 6.73, up from 6.66 in March. Inventories rose 0.3 percent to $666.9 billion and the inventories-to-shipments ratio was unchanged at 1.35.
  • The Canadian economy lost 7,500 jobs in May while the nation’s jobless rate remained level at 5.8 percent. Analysts had predicted a 17,500 increase in employment. The worse-than-expected report was due mostly to job losses in the manufacturing and construction sectors.
  • The U.S. Labor Department announced last week that there were7 million jobs open in the United States in May, including 451,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector. (That number was at its highest since 2001.) There are now more jobs available in the United States than there are unemployed workers—it’s the first time since 2000 that has happened. Click here to read last week’s Connecting The Dots article on the growing labor shortage. In other employment news: 222,000 residents filed for U.S. unemployment benefits during the week that ended June 2, down from 223,000 the week before. The four-week moving average of first-time claims rose, however, while the number of individuals who continued to file for benefits also increased. That figure rose to 1.741 million for the week that ended May 26, up from 1.726 million the week before. The four-week moving average of continuing claims fell to around 1.729 million and was at its lowest level since December 1973.
  • In other economic news: labor productivity in the United States increased 0.4 percent during the first quarter of 2018 as output increased 2.7 percent and hours worked rose 2.3 percent.

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