Bloomberg

The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly increased in June to the highest level since October 2008 as a slump in exports exceeded a decline in shipments from overseas.

The gap widened 4.4 percent to $53.1 billion from $50.8 billion in the prior month, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The deficit exceeded all estimates in a Bloomberg News survey of economists in which the median was $48 billion. Exports declined the most since January 2009.

U.S. shipments of capital equipment and industrial supplies fell in June, which may reflect the start of a cooling in the global economy. Some companies like Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) remain optimistic that demand for American-made goods will be sustained, helped in part by a weaker dollar.

“Sluggish U.S. demand growth has this year has restrained imports,” Mike Englund, chief economist at Action Economics LLC in Boulder, Colorado, said before the report. “The export trajectory remains respectable.”

The number of Americans filing first-time claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly declined last week to a four-month low of 395,000 from 400,000 in the prior period, the Labor Department said today.

Economists forecast 405,000 claims, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls and those getting extended payments also dropped.

Stocks, Treasuries

Stock-index futures pared earlier losses after the reports. The contract on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index maturing in September fell 0.9 percent to 1,113 at 8:53 a.m. in New York after falling as much as 1.8 percent. Treasury securities were little changed.

Deficit estimates of 74 economists surveyed by Bloomberg ranged from $42.5 billion to $51 billion. The Commerce Department revised the May shortfall from a previously reported $50.2 billion.

America’s deficits with China and the European Union widened in June at the same time Japan’s shipments of automobiles into the U.S. picked up.

After eliminating the influence of prices, which renders the figures used to calculate gross domestic product, the trade deficit rose to $50.9 billion from $47.9 billion. The second- quarter deficit average of $47.5 billion compares with $50.3 billion in the first three months of the year.

A preliminary Commerce Department report last month estimated trade contributed 0.6 percentage point to growth in the second quarter. Trade detracted 0.3 percentage point in the first three months of the year.

Imports Drop

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