Smaller Trade Gap Puts U.S. on Stronger Growth Path: Economy

The smallest trade deficit of the year in November and increased company hiring last month provided hints the U.S. economy is rising above a global slowdown -- a notion that will be tested in two days by new readings on job creation and unemployment.

The trade gap, or the difference in the value of imports and exports, shrank 7.7 percent to $39 billion, the smallest since December 2013, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. Private employment increased by 241,000 in December after a 227,000 gain the prior month, according to data from Roseland, New Jersey-based ADP Research Institute.