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Trade: US Deficit Improves, Canadian Surplus Shrinks

Last updated 1/13/2009 8:48 AM ET (GMT -5) 0 Comments - Add your comment

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Kathy Lien

Director of Currency Research, GFT

The US trade deficit narrowed materially in the month of November to the smallest since June 2003. Although the narrower trade deficit is normally something to cheer about, the details of the report indicate that the only reasons why trade improved was because of the fall in oil prices and slower domestic demand. The big story is in imports, which plunged 12 percent in November.  Unfortunately the strength of the dollar did not drive stronger US demand for foreign goods but it did cut exports by 5.8 percent. The US dollar strengthened following the report but the gains may be limited because the report reflects the weakness rather than strength of the US economy.  

Meanwhile Canada is at the brink of turning a deficit for the first time in 10 years. Their trade surplus shrank to 1.3B in November, the smallest since October 1997.  The toxic combination of falling oil prices and weaker US demand for vehicles has caused exports to drop 6.8 percent the fourth consecutive month.

Unsurprisingly, USD/CAD has soared the following the release on the better trade report from the US and weaker report from Canada.  

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About The Author

Kathy Lien began her FX trading career 10 years ago at J.P. Morgan Chase. After graduating New York University’s Leonard Stern School of Business at the age of 18, Kathy joined the bank's interbank FX trading desk and eventually moved to the cross markets proprietary trading desk. In the interbank market, her ability to create solid fundamental and technical analysis from the myriad of information on the market helped her trade forex spot and options. Her experience eventually led her to be chief strategist at Daily FX where she worked until she joined GFT in 2008.

With her knowledge of forex, as well as her experience trading other products, such as interest rate derivates, bonds, equities, and futures, Lien has built a reputation as an international currency analyst. She is frequently quoted on CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox Business and Reuters. Lien has also written for publications like Active Trader, Futures, and SFO magazine. She is the author of the newly updated Day Trading the Currency Market: Technical and Fundamental Strategies to Profit from Market Moves, and the co-author of Millionaire Traders: How Everyday People Are Beating Wall Street at Its Own Game with Boris Schlossberg.

To buy Kathy’s newly updated Day Trading and Swing Trading the Currency Market: Technical and Fundamental Strategies to Profit from Market Moves, click here.