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

A report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday showed the U.S. trade deficit narrowed significantly more than expected in the month of November.

The Commerce Department said the trade deficit shrank to $61.5 billion in November from a revised $77.8 billion in October.

Economists had expected the trade deficit to narrow to $74.0 billion from the $78.2 billion originally reported for the previous month.

The much narrower than expected trade deficit came as the value of imports plunged by 6.4 percent to $313.4 billion, while the value of exports slumped by 2.0 percent to $251.9 billion.