International Finance

1. Which countries are the major customers for U.S exports of goods and services in 2010?

Canada: $228 Billion, Mexico: $149 Billion, China: $82 Billion, Japan: $55 Billion, UK: $44 Billion

Which countries are the major exporters of goods and services to the US in 2010? China: $334 Billion, Canada: $252 Billion, Mexico: $210 Billion, Japan: $108 Billion, Germany: $75 Billion

2. Examine the U.S balance of payments over the past year

The current-account balance: -118.003 Billion. The U.S. current-account deficit—the combined balances on trade in goods and services, income, and net unilateral current transfers—decreased to $118.0 billion (preliminary) in the second quarter of 2011, from $119.6 billion (revised) in the first quarter. The decrease was more than accounted for by increases in the surplus on income and the surplus on services. Increases in the deficit on goods and in net unilateral current transfers were partly offsetting.

In the financial account, net financial inflows to the United States decreased to $25.7 billion in the second quarter from $156.1 billion in the first quarter. Net financial flows reflect combined transactions in U.S.-owned assets abroad, foreign owned assets in the United States, and financial derivatives. However, the preliminary statistics for the second quarter exclude transactions for financial derivatives because the data are not yet available. The second quarter decrease in net inflows reflects a slowdown in the growth of foreign-owned assets in the United States that more than offset a shift from an increase to a decrease in U.S.-owned assets abroad

Capital account payments were $0.8 billion in the second quarter, up from near zero over the previous two quarters.

U.S. official reserve assets increased $6.3 billion in the second quarter, following an increase of $3.6 billion in the first. The increase was mostly a result of an increase in the reserve position in the International Monetary Fund. U.S....