Recent Updates
- South Africa: Volume of Production (Oct)
- Argentina: CPI (Nov)
- U.A.E: Banking Operations Statistics (Nov)
- US: Producer Price Indexes (Nov)
- Euro area: Industrial Production (Oct), ECB Staff Projections (Q4)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance Jump
Initial claims for unemployment insurance jumped up 49,000 to 252,000 (+18.3% y/y) in the week ended December 7...
EMU Area IP Sinks Again As Inflation Undershoots
It's a weak start to a new quarter with IP falling at a 2.3% annual rate...
FOMC Holds Interest Rates Steady; Signals Stability Through 2020
The Fed kept the target range for the Federal funds rate at 1.50% to 1.75% at today's FOMC meeting...
U.S. CPI Increase Led by Higher Energy Prices; Core Prices Rise Steadily
The Consumer Price Index increased 0.3% (2.1% y/y) during November...
U.S. Government Budget Deficit Increases
The U.S. Treasury Department reported that the federal government ran a larger-than-expected $208.8 billion budget deficit during November...
by Tom Moeller September 19, 2018
The U.S. current account deficit fell to $101.5 billion during Q2 2018 from $121.7 billion in Q1. It was the smallest deficit since Q4 2015 and compared to $103.5 billion expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. As a percent of GDP, the deficit declined to 2.0% from 2.4%.
The smaller deficit last quarter was partly due to a shallower $203.2 billion shortfall on goods trade. Goods exports increased 4.3%, while goods imports held steady.
Additionally, the surplus on services trade increased to a record $69.3 billion. Services exports rose 1.5%. Telecommunications, computer & information services exports gained 2.5% (8.2% y/y). Exports of intellectual property rights rose 1.8% (6.1% y/y) while travel exports rose 0.6% (2.7% y/y). Services imports gained 0.4%. Charges for intellectual property declined 1.5% (-11.5% y/y) and travel imports increased 0.1% (6.2% y/y). Telecommunications, computer & information services imports rose 1.7% (5.5% y/y).
The surplus on primary income eased to $60.8 billion, but remained near the record high. The deficit on secondary income also slipped to $28.5, and remained narrower y/y.
From the capital account, the deficit on foreign direct investment shrank to $29.1 billion. This year's deficits compare to surpluses through most of the post-war period.
Balance of Payments data are in Haver's USINT database, with summaries available in USECON. The expectations figure is in the AS1REPNA database.
| US Balance of Payments SA | Q2'18 | Q1'18 | Q4'17 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current Account Balance ($ Billion) | -101.5 | -121.7 | -116.1 | -449.1 | -432.9 | -409.8 |
| Deficit % of GDP | -2.0 | -2.4 | -2.3 | -2.3 | -2.3 | -2.2 |
| Balance on Goods ($ Billion) | -203.2 | -220.8 | -212.4 | -807.5 | -751.1 | -761.9 |
| Exports | 4.3% | 2.4% | 3.6% | 6.6% | -3.6% | -7.6% |
| Imports | 0.0% | 2.9% | 5.1% | 6.9% | -2.9% | -4.7% |
| Balance on Services ($ Billion) | 69.3 | 66.8 | 64.6 | 255.2 | 249.1 | 263.3 |
| Exports | 1.5% | 1.0% | 1.3% | 5.1% | 0.5% | 1.9% |
| Imports | 0.4% | -0.2% | 1.6% | 6.4% | 3.6% | 2.3% |
| Balance on Primary Income ($ Billion) | 60.8 | 61.2 | 62.4 | 221.7 | 193.0 | 203.6 |
| Balance on Secondary Income ($ Billion) | -28.5 | -28.9 | -30.7 | -118.6 | -123.9 | -112.8 |
