Forex News Preview: US Trade Balance due for release at 8:30 AM

Finally, the US Trade Balance will be announced at 8:30 AM EDT. Last month the deficit moved back higher to 62.3 billion from 58.9 billion in January.  Records for both imports and exports were established.  Higher prices for oil helped to increase the dollar value of imports. This month the expectation is for the deficit to improve slightly to 61.4 billion.   With the dollars decline over the last few years, the thought was that the trade deficit would show improvement.  However, with the US reliance on oil and the price of oil soaring, gains made by increased competitiveness on the export market are largely being offset by higher imports of oil.  This is a disappointing development which keeps the dollar pressured.