U.S. trade deficit narrows as exports of services hit record high

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Reuters

Markets | Wed Jun 3, 2015 8:37am EDT

The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in April as exports of services hit a record high and imports fell.

The U.S. Commerce Department on Wednesday said that the U.S. trade gap shrunk to $40.9 billion, down from March's revised deficit of $50.6 billion. The March deficit was previously reported at $51.4 billion.

The 26.6 percent drop in the April trade deficit was the largest decrease since early 2009.
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Exports of U.S. services swelled to $60.9 billion, the highest ever recorded.
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((Reporting by Elvina Nawaguna; Editing by Paul Simao) (([e-mail]; 1-202-898-8324; Reuters)

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/03/us-economy-tradedeficit-idUSKBN0OJ1L220150603

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From the source:

U.S. INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN GOODS AND SERVICES April 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EDT, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 2015

CB 15-94
BEA 15-23
FT-900 (15-04)

U.S. Census Bureau
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
NEWS
U.S. Department of Commerce * Washington, DC 20230
U.S. INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN GOODS AND SERVICES
April 2015

The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the Department of Commerce, announced today that the goods and services deficit was $40.9 billion in April, down $9.7 billion from $50.6 billion in March, revised. April exports were $189.9 billion, $1.9 billion more than March exports. April imports were $230.8 billion, $7.8 billion less than March imports.

The April decrease in the goods and services deficit reflected a decrease in the goods deficit of $9.3 billion to $60.7 billion and an increase in the services surplus of $0.4 billion to $19.8 billion.

Year-to-date, the goods and services deficit increased $1.5 billion, or 0.9 percent, from the same period in 2014. Exports decreased $18.0 billion or 2.3 percent. Imports decreased $16.5 billion or 1.8 percent.
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If you have questions, please contact the Census Bureau, Economic Indicators Division, on [phone], option 4, on [phone], or at [e-mail].

To learn more about the FT-900 and other economic indicators the Census Bureau publishes, join the Economic Indicators Division for the “Investigating Economic Indicators” Webinar series.
For more information, visit www.census.gov/econ/webinar.

[melm00se]

1. Much of this is driven

by the relative strength/weakness of the US dollar.

Strong (relative) dollar = more imports, less exports
Weak (relative) dollar = less imports, more exports

[cprise]

2. Finance and Real Estate transactions

...and probably a big dose of MIC-related 'services' also.