The numbers: The nation’s trade deficit in goods widened 3.4% in October to $89.8 billion, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.
An advanced estimate of wholesale inventories, meanwhile, showed a 0.2% drop in October. Retail inventories were flat, the department said.
Key details: Imports of goods were roughly flat in October at $260.7 billion.
Exports of American-made goods fell 1.7% to $170.8 billion.
The full trade report for October, which includes services such as tourism and travel, comes out next week.
Big picture: Higher trade deficits add to gross domestic product, the official scorecard for the economy. So do lower inventories.
Trade has not been a major factor in GDP this year and that’s expected to continue, said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
and S&P 500
SPX,
were set to higher in Wednesday trades. The 10-year Treasury note yield
BX:TMUBMUSD10Y
slipped to 4.29%
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