A $3 billlion fall in the United States (seasonally adjusted) oil import bill brought the September trade deficit down, as expected.   Oil import prices fell from $66.1 a barrel to $62.5 -- and volumes also look to be a bit lower than August.

Exports also inched up.

But to me what really counts if the non-oil goods import  -- it was $132.14b, a bit lower than$133.12b recorded in August, but also well above the $128-129b range of earlier in the year.   For the quarter, monthly non-oil goods imports averaged $131.7b, v. a $128.6b or so monthly average in q2 -- that is a 3.1% q/q increase, or 13.2% annualized (in nominal terms).   Q3 2006 non-oil goods imports are also up around 11% relative to q3 2005 .    US exports are not growing fast enough to offset that kind of growth in non-oil goods imports on a sustained basis.