International Trade and Jobless Claims Data Paint a Bullish Picture

International Trade and Jobless Claims Data Paint a Bullish Picture
The trade deficit of the U.S economy narrowed to $42.9 billion in June from $48.04 billion in the prior month. The trade balance of goods, in real terms, narrowed to $44.2 billion in June, which results in a smaller trade deficit in the second quarter compared with the assumption embedded in advance estimate of second quarter GDP. The upshot is that, holding other things constant, second quarter real GDP is most likely to show growth that exceeds the current estimate of 1.5%. The change in inventories is the missing item that could alter this prediction. Factory and wholesale inventories for June are available at the present time; the tally of inventories will be complete when retail inventories numbers are published on August 14.