US August Advance Trade Gap Widens, Inventories Rise More Than Expected

08:44 AM EDT, 09/30/2026 (MT Newswires) -- The US advance international trade in goods deficit widened to $132.64 billion in August from $118.94 billion in July, according to data released by the US Census Bureau. This was a wider gap than the $115.0 billion deficit expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg. Exports rose by 1.9% in August while imports were up by 5.5%. In the same report, wholesale inventories rose by 0.7% in August after a 1.3% increase in July. Analysts polled by Bloomberg expected wholesale inventories to rise by 0.5%. Retail inventories were up 0.3% in August following a 0.8% increase in the previous month as expected by analysts. Excluding a 0.8% increase in motor vehicle inventories, retail inventories rose by 0.1% in the month after a 0.8% gain in July.