WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A report released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday showed the U.S. trade deficit narrowed in the month of September.
The Commerce Department said the trade deficit narrowed to $63.9 billion in September from a revised $67.0 billion in August.
Economists had expected the deficit to narrow to $63.8 billion from the $67.1 billion originally reported for the previous month.
The narrower deficit came as the value of exports jumped by 2.6 percent to $176.4 billion, while the value of imports rose by 0.5 percent to $240.2 billion.
The spike in exports partly reflected a sharp increase in exports of soybeans as well as a notable increase in exports of capital goods.
Meanwhile, increases in imports of passenger cars and capital goods were partly offset by steep drops in imports of cell phones and other household goods and industrial supplies and materials.
The report said the goods deficit narrowed to $80.7 billion in September from $83.8 billion in August, while the services surplus was nearly unchanged at $16.8 billion
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