December trade deficit widened to $67.4 billion (consensus -$68.5 billion) from an upwardly revised $61.0 billion (from -$61.5 billion) in November with exports $2.2 billion less than November exports and imports $4.2 billion more than November imports.
The key takeaway from the report is that it reflected a slowdown in global trade, evidenced by a $2.1 billion decline in the three-month moving average for the goods and services deficit to $68.6 billion that resulted from a $2.6 billion decrease in average exports and a $4.7 billion decrease in average imports.