The March US Trade Deficit was about in line with expectations at $40.4b and is up $1b from the revised level in Feb. The rise was led by an increase in the $ amount of petro imports. Both overall Exports and Imports are back to levels last seen in Oct ’08 but the rise in Imports continues to offset the gain in Exports, thus the rise in the overall deficit but for March, ex petroleum products, the trade deficit narrowed by $800mm from Feb. In terms of the revision to Q1 GDP, today’s in line figure won’t alter the estimates and thus is not market moving.
