U.S. Trade Deficit Narrows Much More Than Expected In January

(RTTNews) - The Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing the U.S. trade deficit narrowed by much more than expected in the month of January.

The report said the trade deficit shrank to $54.5 billion in January from a revised $72.9 billion in December.

Economists had expected the trade deficit to decrease to $67.9 billion from the $70.3 billion originally reported for the previous month.

The narrower than expected trade deficit came as the value of exports surged by 5.5 percent to $302.1 billion, while the value of imports slid by 0.7 percent to $356.6 billion.