Current Account (Q3)

The current account deficit widened to a $310.9bn, or 4.2% of GDP, in the third quarter, up from 3.7% of GDP in the second. Admittedly, the deficit briefly hit 4.6% of GDP in early 2022, when easing supply shortages resulted in a brief surge in imports. But otherwise that is the biggest deficit recorded since the financial crisis. The deficit previously peaked at 6.3% of GDP in 2006, when US household savings rates fell close to zero during the housing boom.