The U.S. current account deficit rose last quarter to $124.1B from $107.6B in Q3 as a modest gain in imports outpaced a slight export decline. Consensus expectations were for $114.2B in Q4. The ratio to GDP last quarter was 3.2%, roughly the same as for all of 2010. The overall deficit's increase occurred as the goods deficit in Q4 deepened to $186.3B.

For all of last year, the current account deficit of $473.4B still was nearly half that five years ago. Last year's rough stability versus 2010 occurred as merchandise balance deterioration was offset by services & income improvement. The deficit on goods trade deepened to $738.3B from $645.9B. Goods exports rose 16.2%, driven by the lower value of the dollar, and merchandise imports rose 15.6%, driven by higher oil prices. The surplus on services trade improved for the year to $178.3B from $145.8B as exports rose 10.7% and imports increased 6.5%. The balance on income improved to $221.1B from $165.2B.

From the capital account, 2011 saw $783.7B paid to foreigners on investment in the U.S. which by far exceeded $396.4B in payments to the U.S. The imbalance largely reflects foreign ownership of U.S. financial assets. Payments on U.S. direct investment abroad totaled $406.2B while payments on foreign direct investment in the U.S. were $227.9B.

Balance of Payments data are in Haver's USINT database, with summaries available in USECON. The expectations figure is in the AS1REPNA database.