Import Prices & Trade Deficit Trickle Out

The November report on Trade Balance (the trade deficit) grew from $43.3 billion to a sum of $47.8 billion for the month.  Bloomberg had a reading of $45 billion for its consensus and the high-end of the range was -$47.6 billion.  Our deficit in trade has been wide for so long that this is nothing more than a headline at this point as far as the stock and bond markets are concerned.

In the land of inflation from input costs, the December prices in import prices was down by -0.1% for the month.  Dow Jones had a consensus of -0.1% and Bloomberg was at +0.1% on last look. The range was -1.1% to +0.9%, so this is still in the middle.

Again, there is just no reason to expect these numbers to change much in the markets today.

JON C. OGG