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US April Advance Trade Gap Smaller Than Expected, Inventories Up

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The US advance international trade in goods deficit narrowed to $82.40 billion in April from $85.27 billion in March, according to data released by the US Census Bureau.

This was a smaller gap than the $87 billion deficit expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

Exports rose by 4.0% in April while imports were up 1.9%.

In the same report, wholesale inventories rose by 0.5% in April after a 1.5% increase in March. Analysts polled by Bloomberg expected wholesale inventories to increase by 0.8%.

Retail inventories were up 0.7% in April following a 0.7% increase in the previous month. This was a larger increase than the 0.5% increase expected by analysts. Excluding a 0.9% increase in motor vehicle inventories, retail inventories increased by 0.6% in the month.

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