US trade gap narrows to two-year low

The US trade deficit fell to a two-year low in September as a weak dollar fueled record exports, offsetting the impact of surging oil prices and a widening shortfall with China, data showed Friday.
The trade gap narrowed to 56.5 billion dollars, 0.6 percent lower than a downwardly revised 56.8 billion in August, the Commerce Department said.
The strengthening trade performance came against market expectations of a smaller decline to 58.5 billion dollars, and brought the US gap in goods and services with the rest of the world to a low last seen in May 2005.
Excluding oil imports, the shortfall was the narrowest since May 2004.
The politically sensitive trade deficit with China ballooned to 23.8 billion dollars, up a hefty 5.5 percent from 22.5 billion in August.