The trade deficit in the US probably narrowed in November last year as fuel imports dropped and exports rebounded, economists said before a report due this week.
The gap shrank to US$41.2 billion from October’s US$42.2 billion, according to the median forecast of 51 economists surveyed by Bloomberg before Friday’s figures from the US Department of Commerce. Another report the same day may show import prices were little changed last month.
Sustained job gains and the drop in oil prices that is helping to reduce the import bill are boosting the buying power of US households, giving the world’s largest economy a lift.
In addition, stabilization in global growth, led by a pickup in China, will probably keep propelling sales overseas for US companies such as Ford Motor Co.
“The export side of it just sort of swamps the import side this month,” RBC Capital Markets LLC chief US economist Tom Porcelli said. “Exports have been a sector of significant strength in the US.”
“That’s a story that could remain in place in 2013” given the recent rebound in global manufacturing, he added.
Manufacturing in China unexpectedly expanded last month at the fastest pace in 19 months, boosting optimism that a recovery in the world’s second-biggest economy is gaining traction, a report Monday last week showed.
The country’s economy may have rebounded after a seven-quarter slowdown as the government increased spending on infrastructure and accelerated investment-project approvals.
US manufacturers are selling more overseas as a result. The Tempe, Arizona-based Institute for Supply Management said its factory export gauge rose last month to a seven-month high. Commerce Department data show exports slumped in October by the most in almost four years.
Ford is among manufacturers anticipating a pickup in global demand to compliment higher US sales that have seen a boost as consumers replace lost or wrecked vehicles after Hurricane Sandy.
Ford, General Motors Co and Chrysler Group LLC posted vehicle sales gains last month that exceeded analysts’ estimates, industry reports showed last week.
“We expect global sales to grow this year supported by an ongoing recovery in the US as well as improving sales in China,” Ford Motor Co chief economist Ellen Hughes-Cromwick said on a conference call on Thursday.
“Gains in these markets are offset somewhat by the weakness in the European markets,” she said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
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