USD continues to trade with a soft tone in early US session. But it’s staying in yesterday’s range except versus JPY and NZD, which are both strong today.
US trade deficit narrowed to USD -49.0B in March, down USD -8.8B from USD -57.7B in February. That’s also the lowest monthly deficit in six months. March exports rose USD 4.2b to USD 208.5b. Imports dropped USD 4.6b to USD 257.5B.
Trade deficit with China, however, rose USD 0.7B to USD 35.4B in March. Exports to China rose USD 1.6B to USD 12.4B. But imports increased more by USD 2.3B to USD 47.7B.
Also, it should be noted that year-to-date, trade deficit widened USD -25.5B, or 18.5%, from the same period in 2017.
Initial jobless claims rose 2k to 211k in the week ended April 28, below expectation of 225k. The four week moving average dropped 7.75k to 221.5k. Continuing claims dropped -77k to 1.756m in the week ended April 28, lowest since December 8, 1973.
Also released, US nonfarm productivity rose 0.7% in Q1 while unit labor costs rose 2.7%.
Canada trade deficit widened to CAD -4.1B in March.
