Plus: GM Sales Outpace Toyota’s, Jobless Claims Drop and Endeavour Launches on Final Mission.

U.S. Trade Gap Widens
The United States deficit in international trade of goods and services jumped 6 percent in March to $48.2 billion, as surging oil prices drove up the country’s imports and the falling value of the dollar gave a boost to exports, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported last week. Exports rose to the highest level on record while imports were the strongest since August 2008.

The median forecast of 72 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected the deficit would widen to $47 billion.

U.S. exports increased 4.6 percent to $172.7 billion in March, surpassing the record set in July 2008 before world trade took a sharp downturn. U.S. companies sold more automobiles, industrial materials, and food and consumer goods in March. Auto and auto part exports rose to $11.6 billion from just below $10 billion in February. The export rise in March was the biggest month-to-month gain in 17 years, according to the Commerce Department.

“It’s taken two-and-a-half years, but the level of exports has finally returned to pre-recession levels,” Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist with Capital Economics, told Reuters.

Despite the big gain, imports rose faster than exports, increasing 4.9 percent to $220.8 billion in March. More than half of the $10.4 billion surge in imports came from oil and oil products as crude prices shot up due to turbulence in oil-producing Arab countries. In addition to oil, the monthly rise in imports reflected increases in industrial supplies and materials, vehicles and auto parts, and capital goods.

“Although we expect the widening U.S. trade deficit to be a modest drag on domestic growth in an accounting sense over the next few years, we view the ongoing recovery of trade flows as a positive signal of global economic strength,” Nicholas Tenev, an economist at Barclays Capital, told Agence France-Presse.

GM Overtaking Toyota as World’s Top Automaker
General Motors Co. surpassed Toyota Motor Co. in global sales for the first quarter of 2011 and auto industry analysts say GM is poised to regain its position as the world’s top automaker this year, largely due to the major disruptions facing Toyota as a result of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

“It is almost certain that Toyota will lose its No. 1 position this year,” Bill Visnic, an analyst with the automotive Web site Edmunds.com, told AFP. “Its production won’t be fully back before very late in the year. It is hard to predict another outcome.”

Although GM was considered the world’s largest automaker for 77 years, Toyota topped the American company in sales in 2008 and has held the top position each year since then. However, in the first quarter of 2011, GM surpassed Toyota with 2.22 million vehicles sold, compared to Toyota’s 1.79 million. If the trend continues through the rest of the year, GM may regain its position as the world’s top automaker in 2011.

“The last time prices at the pump spiked in 2008, Toyota captured the title of world’s No. 1 automaker — and has held it ever since,” the Associated Press reports. “Now gas costs almost $4 a gallon again, but Toyota is struggling. It’s been hammered by supply disruptions from the Japan earthquake and can’t escape the stigma from its safety-related recalls last year. And its rivals are making flashier cars with great gas mileage.”

According to MarketWatch, GM’s market share rose from 18.7 percent in March to 20.1 percent in April, while Toyota’s market share dropped from 16 percent to 13.8 percent. GM, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC all posted strong sales gains over the period and gained market share, while the three largest Japanese auto firms all lost ground to their U.S. competitors.

Jobless Claims Plummet
New initial jobless claims fell steeply in the latest week reported, indicating that labor conditions are once again improving after a series of unexpected rises in weekly jobless figures last month. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, seasonally adjusted unemployment claims fell by 44,000 for the week ending May 7, bringing the total down to 434,000.

However, the four-week moving average, which more closely measures underlying trends, increased 4,500 to reach 436,750, the highest level since November.

The seasonally adjusted jobless figures were slightly below expectations, as economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast a decline to 428,000 claims. Applications for jobless benefits are up sharply from February’s low of 375,000, but the spikes in April seem to have subsided for the time being.

“The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls rose, while those getting extended payments decreased,” Bloomberg News reports. “A further decline in the number of firings accompanied by job gains elsewhere may shore up consumers’ confidence and boost average incomes, helping Americans overcome the strains of higher food and energy costs. U.S. payrolls have expanded for seven straight months, a sign the labor market is strengthening.”

New requests for unemployment benefits have exceeded 400,000 each week for the last five weeks. Generally, requests must fall below the 400,000-mark to indicate health job growth and strong hiring conditions.

Endeavour Launches on Final Mission
Following a postponed launch late last month, NASA’s space shuttle Endeavour is finally on its way to the International Space Station (ISS). Despite a few minor problems, which were managed and worked out immediately, the orbiter blasted off this morning on its 25th and final ascent into space.

Endeavour and its crew of six will arrive at the ISS on Wednesday, where they will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS), a particle physics detector designed to search for various types of unusual matter by measuring cosmic rays. Its experiments are designed to help researchers study the formation of the universe and search for evidence of dark matter, strange matter and antimatter.

“The mission in front of us is no easy mission, the EVAs (extra vehicular activities) are very demanding — but it’ll be exciting to see the AMS get installed on the station and get some real research data for the ISS,” Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for space operations, said in a statement.

The mission will last 16 days. Only one other shuttle trip remains.