The Day at a Glance | May 25 2023

*Mexico recorded a larger than expected trade deficit in April. 

*Credit rating agency Fitch Ratings has placed the US long-term credit rating at “AAA” under negative review due to the rapidly approaching deadline, although it said it still expects an agreement. 

*GDP growth rate in the US for the 1Q23 was revised from 1.1% q/q annualized to 1.3% due to an upward adjustment in private inventories. Additionally, the core personal consumption expenditure price index was also revised to 5.0% q/q from the preliminary 4.9% q/q. 

*New claims for unemployment insurance in the United States stood at 229,000 in the week ending on May 20th, down from the revised figure of 225,000 claims in the previous week and significantly lower than the expected 245,000. 

Economic environment

Mexico´s trade balance logged a deficit worth 1.509 billion dollars in April. This figure compares to a deficit of 1.783 billion dollars a year ago, and against the expected -1.425 billion. With this, in the first four months of 2023, the trade balance accumulated a deficit worth 6.308 billion dollars (-32.8% y/y). In detail, exports reached 46.224 billion (-2.4% y/y), composed of 2.617 billion (-32.8% y/y) in petroleum products and 43.607 billion in non-petroleum products (-0.18% y/y). On the other hand, merchandise imports amounted to 47.733 billion dollars (-3.3% y/y), explained by 4.455 billion dollars in petroleum imports (-27.54% y/y) and 43.278 billion dollars in non-petroleum imports (+0.14% y/y). It´s noteworthy that the only category of imports that logged annual growth was capital goods (+17.32% y/y). Overall, although April´s figures pointed towards weakness in foreign Mexican trade during the month, accumulated figures so far this year show moderate growth.