Current Account Deficit Widens by 52.9 Percent in Second Quarter

[mahatmakanejeeves]

EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EDT, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2020
BEA 20-44
U.S. International Transactions, Second Quarter 2020
Current Account Deficit Widens by 52.9 Percent in Second Quarter
Current Account Balance, Second Quarter

The U.S. current account deficit, which reflects the combined balances on trade in goods and services and income flows between U.S. residents and residents of other countries, widened by $59.0 billion, or 52.9 percent, to $170.5 billion in the second quarter of 2020, according to statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). The revised first quarter deficit was $111.5 billion.

The second quarter deficit was 3.5 percent of current dollar gross domestic product, up from 2.1 percent in the first quarter.

The $59.0 billion widening of the current account deficit in the second quarter mostly reflected an expanded deficit on goods and reduced surpluses on primary income and on services.



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[progree]

1. I thought the plunging dollar would help this situation. And aren't we doing better on Covid than

the rest of the world -- that our statistics look bad only because we test too much, according to the psychopath-in-chief? That foreign workers are dropping like flies? That our stock market proves that we've got Covid beat?

DXY dollar index down 6.5% from a year ago, 99% of that drop since March 31 (end of Q1).