Cargo containers sit idle at the Port of Los Angeles as a back-log of over 30 container ships sit anchored outside the Port in Los Angeles, California, February 18, 2015. REUTERS/Bob Riha, Jr.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. goods trade deficit narrowed sharply in March as imports tumbled, suggesting economic growth in the first-quarter was probably not as weak as currently anticipated.
The Commerce Department said in its advance report on Wednesday that the goods trade gap fell to $56.90 billion last month from $63.44 billion in February.
March’s comprehensive trade report, which includes services, will be released next Wednesday.
Goods imports fell 4.4 percent to $173.6 million last month, outpacing a 1.2 percent drop in exports.
The small goods deficit suggested there could be an upside surprise in gross domestic product growth for the first quarter. Economists polled by Reuters have forecast GDP rising at a 0.7 percent annualized rate in the first three months of the year.
“It suggests that first-quarter GDP growth will be much stronger than we previously believed,” said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics in Toronto.
“We now estimate that first-quarter GDP growth was 1.4 percent annualized, whereas we previously thought it would be only 0.8 percent.”
The government is scheduled to publish its advance first-quarter GDP growth estimate on Thursday.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)
