U.S. Trade Deficit Widens Much More Than Expected In November

(RTTNews) - A report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday showed the U.S. trade deficit surged by much more than expected in the month of November.

The Commerce Department said the trade deficit widened to $56.8 billion in November from a revised $29.2 billion in October.

Economists had expected the trade deficit to grow to $45.0 billion from the $29.4 billion originally reported for the previous month.

The wider than expected trade deficit came as the value of imports spiked by 5.0 percent, while the value of exports plunged by 3.6 percent.