Current Account Deficit Widens Modestly

- The Current Account Deficit for 3Q widened to -$225.6 billion versus estimates of -$225.0 billion and -$217.1 billion in 2Q.

BOTTOM LINE: The US current-account deficit widened to $225.6 billion last quarter as the trade gap grew and the country paid more interest to overseas investors, Bloomberg reported. The US needs to attract about $2.5 billion a day to fund the deficit, which has not been a problem. International investment in long-term securities rose again in October as stocks climbed and demand for US Treasuries surged. US investors received less income on their holdings of international investments which helped widen the deficit. I expect the current account deficit to only improve modestly over the intermediate-term as the US dollar firms and overseas economic growth slows relative to US growth.