This week, the U.S. Department of Commerce released a number of data sets demonstrating the continued strength of the U.S. economy. A few days ago, Commerce announced that the U.S. trade deficit fell 2.7% as the trade gap with China fell by $500 million. Additionally, new orders for manufactured goods rose 1.4% in July, well outpacing expectations of 1% growth. As President Trump has promised, his policies are leading to a better trade balance and a revitalized manufacturing industry.

Headlines:

The Associated Press: US trade gap fell 2.7% in July including the gap with China

“The U.S. trade deficit declined in July, including the gap with China that has been the focus of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that the gap between the goods and services the U.S. buys and what it sells abroad fell 2.7% to $54 billion in July from June. Exports rose 0.6% to $207.4 billion, while imports ticked down 0.1% to $261.4 billion.”

MarketWatch: U.S. factory orders rise for second straight month in July

“Factory orders rose 1.4% in July, for the second straight monthly gain, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The increase was led by volatile civilian aircraft orders, primarily Boeing BA, -0.08% Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a 1.2% increase.”

Financial Times: Solid growth in US services sector counters manufacturing gloom

“Also providing some good news on Thursday morning, data from the Commerce Department showed factory orders grew 1.4 per cent month-on-month in July, up from a revised 0.5 per cent rise (previously 0.6 per cent) in June. That was comfortably ahead of the 1 per cent forecast among Wall Street analysts and also marked a second consecutive monthly rise.”