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The Commerce Department said the current account deficit, which
measures the flow of goods, services and investments into and
out of the country, widened to $124.8 billion, or 2.4 percent of
national economic output, in the July-September period.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected the current account
deficit to widen to $124.3 billion.
The department report also showed a rebound in foreign direct
investment during the third quarter, with foreign firms sinking
$116.3 billion into the country.
The rebound followed a rare drop in foreign investment during
the second quarter, which some analysts attributed to questions
over how a 2017 tax overall would be implemented and trade
tensions between the United States and a range of trade
partners.
Wednesday's data seemed to suggest that any impact on foreign
investment was so far fleeting. Over the past two quarters,
foreign firms invested about $115 billion in the United States,
up from about $109 billion in the prior two quarters.
The Commerce Department said a tax overhaul passed by Congress
in December 2017, which changed how repatriated earnings are
taxed, led many companies to bring back cash parked abroad.
Companies paid out dividends and other withdrawals of $92.7
billion from foreign receipts during the third quarter, the
department said, which far outstripped the amount of this cash
which was reinvested.
(Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
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