Originally published November 15 2005
Import prices soar as a consequence of U.S. energy costs
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The Commerce Department recently reported that the trade gap in goods and services rose to $59 billion from its former mark of $58 billion in July, suggesting that inflation may soon hit the American economy.
U.S. Economy: Oil Widens Trade Deficit, Pushes Up Import Prices Listen Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Soaring energy costs widened the U.S. trade deficit in August and pushed up import prices in September by the most in 15 years, adding to concern that inflation may accelerate in the world's largest economy.
The trade gap in goods and services rose to $59 billion in August from $58 billion in July and was the third-largest ever, the Commerce Department said in Washington.
An expanding economy and rising costs for oil, gasoline and natural gas will keep the Federal Reserve raising interest rates and cause imports to rise faster than exports in coming months, economists said.
``The Fed doesn't have to get too worried about inflation creeping up, but it can't get complacent,'' said David Watt, a financial economist at BMO Nesbitt Burns in Toronto, the only bank to correctly forecast the jump in import prices.
Imports and exports both reached all-time highs in August, and the gap with China widened to a record on more textile shipments.
Excluding petroleum, prices rose 1.2 percent, the largest jump since record-keeping started in January 1989, because of increases in natural gas prices.
Against the yen, the dollar advanced to 114.98 at 10:20 a.m. in New York, the highest September 2003, from 114.35 late yesterday, according to foreign-exchange dealing system EBS.
The U.S. currency also strengthened to $1.1918 per euro from $1.2023.
Economists at Morgan Stanley in New York raised their running estimate of third-quarter economic growth to 3.6 percent from 3.4 percent after today's trade report.
Boeing Co., the world's second-biggest airplane maker, shipped 25 planes to foreign buyers in August, the most since May 2000, compared with 17 a month earlier.
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