The U.S. trade deficit ballooned 11% during September, as purchases of natural gas and consumer goods rose

The U.S. Commerce Department said today that the U.S. deficit in international trade of goods and services widened to US$66.11 billion from a revised US$59.35 billion in August.

Exports fell 2.6%, while imports rose 2.4%.

Economists had forecast a deficit of US$61.20 billion.

Imports overall increased to US$171.31 billion during September from US$167.35 billion. Purchases of industrial materials from overseas climbed US$2.73 billion, driven by natural gas and fuel oil.

Exports declined to US$105.21 billion in September from US$108.00 billion. Sales of capital goods such as civilian aircraft and oilfield equipment fell by US$2.33 billion.

Deficits with major U.S. trading partners were mixed in September, Commerce said. The shortfall with China increased to a record US$20.11 billion from US$18.47 billion. The deficit with Japan contracted to US$6.41 billion from US$6.59 billion, while the gap with the euro area decreased to US$7.24 billion from US$8.78 billion. The deficit with Canada widened to US$7.39 billion and the shortfall with Mexico rose to US$4.31 billion.

A separate report from the Labor Department released today showed that a decline in crude oil prices led import prices to fall 0.3% in October. Within that report, petroleum prices fell 4.4%, the first drop in five months.

Separately, the Labor Department said that initial jobless claims rose by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted level of 326,000 in the week that ended November 5. Claims for the week ending October 29 were revised as a drop of 6,000 to 324,000 after previously being estimated down 8,000. The four-week moving average fell by 16,250 to 334,250.

Also today, the University of Michigan’s mid-month report on consumer sentiment for November increased to 79.9 from 74.2 in October, according to media reports.

Economists had expected to see a reading of 76.0.