Investing.com - The U.S. trade deficit widened narrowed to the lowest level since 2009 in February, as exports dropped 1.6% and imports declined 4.4%, official data showed on Thursday.
In a report, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis said that the U.S. trade deficit narrowed to a seasonally adjusted $34.44 billion in February from a deficit of $42.68 billion in January, whose figure was revised from a previously reported deficit of $41.8 billion.
Analysts had expected the U.S. trade deficit to narrow to $41.2 billion in February.
U.S. exports fell 1.6% to $186.25 billion in February, while imports decreased 4.4% to $221.69 billion.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.0823 from around 1.0835 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4797 from 1.4814 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 119.76 from 119.63 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 98.15, compared to 98.04 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open. The Dow futures pointed to a drop of 0.15%, the S&P 500 futures shed 0.2%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures slumped 0.2%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,203.70 a troy ounce, compared to $1,204.80 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $48.75 a barrel from $48.82 earlier.