May 22 2009
USA Export: The US Trade Balance Improves…or Does It?
Recent trade balance improvements make USA export distributor wholesalers more important than ever.
Our trade imbalance has improved tremendously in recent months. Why, then, is an export distributor so important? If, as a country, we’re now exporting more, we’re obviously moving products overseas.
However, before US manufacturing declares victory, we must also look at an overall manufacturing index, such as the one published by the Institute for Supply Management. http://www.ism.ws/ISMReport/MfgROB.cfm The ISM reports that, although the index is showing signs of improvement, “economic activity in the manufacturing sector failed to grow in April for the 15th consecutive month, and the overall economy contracted for the seventh consecutive month.”
While I hate to rain on our parade, with this data, it can then be argued that the improvement in our trade imbalance is the function of lower demand and production, versus an overall economic improvement. Further support of this is seen in the March FT900 Report (issued May 12, 2009), showing a gap that slightly widened.
