Measures the difference between imports and exports of both goods and services. Changes in the level of imports and exports are an important tool that is used to gauge of economic trends both here and overseas. This report can have a profound effect on the value of the dollar. That in turn can help or hurt multi national corporations whose profits overseas can diminish when they convert their funds back to the US especially if the US dollar is overvalued.

Another valuable aspect of this report is that imports can help indicate demand for foreign goods here in the U.S., and exports may show the demand for U.S. goods in overseas countries.