Trade Deficit Narrows by Most in 5 Years
By: Pam On: Nov/9/06 - Leave Your Comment
(AP) —
Helped by falling oil prices, America’s trade deficit showed a sharp improvement in September, narrowing by the largest amount in more than five years.
However, the politically sensitive deficit with China rose to a new record of $23 billion, pushed higher by a flood of Chinese-made televisions, cell phones and toys being imported to stock American store shelves for Christmas.
The overall deficit declined 6.8 percent to $64.3 billion in September after it had hit an all-time high of $69 billion in August. The drop of $4.7 billion was the biggest one-month decline since February 2001.
In other news, the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell by 20,000 to 308,000 last week.
