U.S. Trade Deficit, Canadian Surplus Increased In October

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Meanwhile, here are the major economic headlines from the last week:

• The U.S. trade deficit was $78.2 billion in October, up $4 billion from $74.1 billion in September. The October increase reflected an rise in the goods deficit of $6.1 billion to $99.6 billion and an increase in the services surplus of $2.1 billion to $21.4 billion. Year-to-date, the goods and services deficit increased $136.9 billion, or 19.9 percent, from the same period in 2021. Exports increased $415.3 billion or 19.8 percent. Imports increased $552.2 billion or 19.8 percent. Click here to read the full report.
• Canada’s trade surplus rose to $1.2 billion in October due to higher exports of consumer goods and commodities like canola and wheat. That surplus was more than twice the $607 million level hit in September 2022. Exports were up 1.5 percent while the value of imports increased just 0.6 percent in October. Read the full report here.
• New orders for U.S. manufactured goods increased one percent in October while shipments were up 0.7 percent. Unfilled orders were up 0.6 percent while the unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio was 6.03, unchanged from September. Inventories increased 0.5 percent and the inventories-to-shipments ratio was 1.45, unchanged from September.
• Industrial capacity utilization in Canada fell in the third quarter, the first decline in a year, due to declines in the manufacturing industry. Overall, industries operated at 82.6 percent of their production capacity in the third quarter, a 0.2-percentage-point decline from the second quarter. Capacity utilization was down in more than half of major manufacturing industries in the country, representing about 60 percent of gross domestic product in the manufacturing sector. Read the full report here.
• According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 230,000 people filed for federal unemployment benefits for the first time ever during the week that ended December 3. That number was up by 4,000 from the week before. The four-week moving average of first-time claims also rose. During the week that ended November 26, 1.671 million continued to receive jobless benefits, an increase of 62,000 from the previous week. The four-week moving average of continuing claims also was higher that week.
• In other economic news: U.S. nonfarm business sector labor productivity rose 0.8 percent in the third quarter of 2022 as output increased 3.3 percent and hours worked rose 2.5 percent and the U.S. producer price index rose 0.3 percent from October 2022 to November 2022 and 7.4 percent from November 2021 to November 2022.