US trade gap widens

The U.S. trade deficit recorded its biggest increase in more than one and a half years in October as exports of soybeans and other products fell.

The Commerce Department recently reported the trade gap rose 17.8 percent to $42.6 billion. Rising domestic demand for imports also has created the rift. 

John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics in New York, anticipates a resulting subtraction of greater than 1 percent from fourth-quarter GDP growth. While a decline in exports is likely to negatively impact the GDP, it is expected that consumer spending and a strengthening housing market will bolster the economy. 

Demand for manufactured goods such as machinery is anticipated this quarter from an uptick in gas and oil well drilling brought on by increasing oil prices.

A second report from the Commerce Department pointed to an upturn in manufacturing, which accounts for about 12 percent of the economy. 

Read more from Reuters.

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