The U.S. current account deficit widened to $134.4 billion during Q4'18 from $126.6 billion in Q3. It remained the largest quarterly deficit since Q4 2008 and compared to $131.1 billion expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. As a percent of GDP, the deficit deepened to 2.6% from 2.5% in Q3, its largest deficit since Q2 2012.

The larger deficit last quarter was due to a record $233.0 billion shortfall on goods trade. Goods exports declined 0.9% (+3.5% y/y), while goods imports held steady (5.7% y/y).

The surplus on services trade eased to $66.1 billion from the record $67.5 billion in Q3. Services exports rose 1.0% after a 0.7% rise. Telecommunications, computer & information services exports gained 0.8% (3.3% y/y) after a 5.0% jump. Exports of intellectual property rights were little changed (-1.5% y/y) after declining in the prior two quarters while travel exports improved 1.1% (1.0% y/y). Services imports gained 2.5% (2.7% y/y) after a 1.9% rise. Charges for intellectual property eased 0.8% (-3.4% y/y) and travel imports strengthened 5.4% (7.6% y/y). Telecommunications, computer & information services imports held steady (-0.7% y/y).

The surplus on primary income was little changed at $60.4 billion, down versus the record high of $62.4 billion reached in Q4'17. The deficit on secondary income widened to $27.8 billion after narrowing since Q2'17.

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