Trade Gap In U.S. Narrows As Imports Drop More Than Exports

The trade deficit in the U.S. narrowed in April as a drop in imports overshadowed the first decline in exports in five months.

The gap shrank 4.9 percent to $50.1 billion from $52.6 billion in March that was higher than previously estimated, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The medianforecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 73 economists called for the deficit to shrink to $49.5 billion. Both exports and imports fell from the prior month’s record highs.

Stagnation in Europe and cooling growth in China may restrain exports of American-made goods, which have beencontributing to growth in the world’s largest economy. At the same time, domestic demand will help sustain the pace of imports, making further improvement in the trade balance more difficult.

“The contribution from trade will be fairly neutral over the year,”Aneta Markowska, chief U.S. economist at Societe Generale inNew York, said before the report. “We could see a slowdown but not an outright collapse in exports as global growth slows.”

The trade deficit was projected to narrow from an initially reported $51.8 billion for March, according to the Bloomberg survey. Estimates ranged from gaps of $53 billion to $45.5 billion.

Stock-index futures held losses after weaker economic data inEurope added to concern about a global slowdown. The contract on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring in September declined 0.3 percent to 1,305.6 at 8:33 a.m. in New York.