U.S. third-quarter economic growth could surprise on the upside after government data on Wednesday showed the goods trade deficit narrowed sharply to a seven-month low in September.
Economists had expected gross domestic product to expand at an annual rate of 1.6 percent last quarter, according to a Reuters poll. Many, however, raised their forecasts after the Commerce Department reported that the goods trade deficit fell to $58.6 billion from $67.2 billion in August.
Economists now estimate that trade subtracted only one-tenth of percentage point from third-quarter GDP, rather than the about 0.8 percentage point they had previously forecast.
