America’s trade deficit soared to a 6½-year high in March, raising fears that the economy shrank in the first three months of 2015.
Growth in exports of only 1 per cent was swamped by a 7.7 per cent increase in imports, driving the monthly goods and services deficit up to $51.4 billion.
The shortfall was far larger than the $45.2 billion estimate made in last week’s first-quarter GDP data and bigger than any deficit seen since the financial crisis in October 2008.
Economists warned that the scale of the undershoot could wipe out the first quarter’s weak 0.2 per cent growth rate and that it had made it less likely that the US Federal Reserve would raise interest rates soon.
The dollar dropped against both