U.S. Trade Deficit Widens More Than Expected In January

(RTTNews) - Reflecting a spike by the value of imports, the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing the U.S. trade deficit widened by more than expected in the month of January.

The Commerce Department said the trade deficit surged to $131.4 billion in January from a revised $98.1 billion in December.

Economists had expected the trade deficit to jump to $123.0 billion from the $98.4 billion originally reported for the previous month.

The notably wider trade deficit came as the value of imports soared by 10.0 percent to $401.2 billion, while the value of imports increased by 1.2 percent to $2,69.8 billion.