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Strengthening U.S. market finally starting to help Canadian exporters

Date: January 13, 2012
Source: www.star96.ca
OTTAWA - Improving economic conditions south of the border helped Canada return to a robust trade surplus in November, as exports in the auto and energy sectors rebounded strongly from the previous month. Canada's $1.1-billion trade surplus in November — twice as big as expected — contrasted with October's upwardly revised $487-million deficit. The trade picture, however, was not nearly as strong as it was in the third quarter when a exports contributed to a 3.5 per cent jump in gross domestic product. With October's deficit and November's surplus, economists expect trade will be a modest contributor, or have a neutral effect, to Canada's economic growth in the last three months of 2011, pending December's data. But economist Peter Hall of Export Development Canada called the resurgence of the U.S. market for Canadian exports a promising development. U.S. weakness has for several years been was a key cause of the gloom among Canadian manufacturers and exporters, who are still struggling to ge...

U.S. Trade Deficit Widens Beyond Forecast

Date: January 13, 2012
Source: www.bloomberg.com
The U.S. trade deficit widened more than forecast in November as American exports declined and companies stepped up imports of crude oil and automobiles. The gap expanded 10.4 percent to $47.8 billion, the widest since June, from a $43.3 billion shortfall in October, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The deficit was larger than any of the estimates in a Bloomberg News survey of 75 economists. The U.S. import bill was driven by demand for higher-priced crude oil at the same time American companies tempered orders for consumer goods on concern household spending will cool early this year. Exports from the U.S. declined to a four-month low, depressed by a drop in shipments to Europe. "Domestic demand is a bit stronger than external demand as global growth weakens," said Jeremy Lawson, a senior U.S. economist at BNP Paribas in New York. "The question is whether U.S. consumption can be maintained in the first part of the year post-Christmas. There are a lot of headwinds." The trade gap wa...

U.S. December Import and Export Price Index Report

Date: January 13, 2012
Source: www.bls.gov
U.S. import prices edged down 0.1 percent in December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, after rising 0.8 percent the previous month. In December, declining prices for fuels more than offset a 0.1 percent rise in nonfuel prices. Export prices also decreased in December, falling 0.5 percent following a 0.1 percent advance in November. Imports All Imports:Import prices resumed a downward trend, declining 0.1 percent following a 0.8 percent upturn in November. The price index for overall imports rose 8.5 percent in 2011, driven by a 9.2 percent increase for the index over the first five months of the year. 2011 was the third consecutive year that import prices rose, advancing 5.3 percent and 8.6 percent, respectively in 2010 and 2009, after declining 10.1 percent in 2008. Fuel Imports:Fuel prices fell 0.5 percent in December after rising 3.7 percent in November. In December, lower prices for both petroleum and natural gas, down 0.4 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively, each contributed to th...

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