The U.S. international trade deficit unexpectedly shrank to $72.3 billion in July from June's $74.2 billion, according to advance data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Econoday consensus estimate was for the deficit to rise to $74.4 billion.
Exports rose $900 million to $137.3 billion in July from June, while imports dropped by the same amount to $209.7 billion over the period.
Meanwhile, wholesale inventories for July were estimated at $679.4 billion, up 0.2% from June and up 7.1% from July 2018.
