Both stocks and exchange traded funds (ETFs) are nicely higher this morning as news that the nation’s trade gap narrowed in October offset slightly higher-than-expected weekly jobless claims.
The Commerce Department reported this morning that the trade deficit for the United States unexpectedly narrowed by 7.6% in October to $32.9 billion. The weak U.S. dollar helped boost exports by 2.6% to $136.8 billion. In a sign that world trade may be slowly shaking off the effects of the global financial crisis, Doug Palmer of Reuters reports that U.S. exports were at their highest level since November 2008 and imports were at their highest level since December 2008.
The smaller-than-expected trade gap is likely to prompt analysts to raise estimates of fourth-quarter economic growth. This will be good news for the Obama administration, which sees export growth as one avenue for creating jobs in the country. (For more stories concerning the Obama administration, please see our President Obama category).
Citibank (NYSE: C) is up this morning on reports that it is looking to repay the remaining $20 billion in TARP funds as soon as possible. Citibank is the only remaining major bank left with “exceptional” federal aid, report Bradley Keoun and David Mildenberg for BusinessWeek. This is after Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) recently announced an agreement with the government to repay TARP funds. (For more stories on the financial sector, please see our financial category).