Main national economic indicators reveal a solidifying moment of the American economy. In spite of job losses in mining and oil-related sectors, total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 242,000 in February; and although the unemployment rate kept unmovingly, the economy shows signs of very good standing relative to past winter season data. The biggest risk, though, is probably to come from outside the United States. In that regard, the latest data on international trade in goods and services confirm that the economic momentum in being built on the internal demand for goods, whereas the international market weakens. In other words, foreign trade is not adding much to the current economic expansion given that both imports and exports decreased in January. With the dollar as it stands currently, what analysts expect to see is a big inflow of trade, which has not realized yet. That could be somewhat worrisome.

By Catherine De Las Salas

Countries have not found their way in:

Most of the accounts of trade balance declined in January. Countries have not found the way in for commodities even when the US Dollar remains high. In fact, the US Balance of Trade in 2015 exhibited a positive trend with a net gain of U$851 million of dollars (Graph 1 below). In January, imports of goods declined U$2.9 billion as a result of a noticeable drop in the value of Crude Oil imports, and a decrease in Capital Goods. On the other hand, exports of Goods fell U$4.0 billion mainly as a result of small international sales of Capital Goods and Industrial Supplies Materials. Nevertheless, those decreases, exports of services increased especially on Travel for all purposes and transportation.

No analyst expects to see US Exports to grow considerably currently. Otherwise, economists expect overseas countries to take advantage of the current dollar rate, which has not happened yet. US Exports deteriorate due to strong dollar abroad. The deficit in the Balance of Trade continues to grow negatively for the United States in spite of 2015 being a good year. The deficit increased by $U2.1 billion over the year, which correspond to 4.8 percent when compared January 2016 and January 2016. Exports decreased U$12.5 billion over the year as Imports did so too by U$10.5 billion. Over the month changes in the Balance of Trade registered only positive increases in exports of Services. All these data beg the question about international markets. Why countries overseas are not selling to the United States?

Internal demand is gaining momentum:

With almost every international trade indicator declining, what is feasible to infer about the economy is that the internal demand for good and manufacturing is gaining momentum. The evidence rests on employment data. Just in the past three months, payroll data has shown an average increase of 228,000 jobs created per month. Usually, employment creation in January and February are not that good because of the weather. February 2016 employment data exhibited gains in Healthcare (+38,000), Retail trade (+55,000), Food and Services (+40,000) and Construction (+19,000). Retail trade, Food and Services, and Construction usually are affected by weather conditions. This year seems to be different.