(SyndicateMyNews) - The US Department of Commerce reports that the trade gap, the price between imports and exports of goods to the US, widened in June to $27 billion, laying the blame on higher oil costs. June's trade gap marked the first increase in the cost of imported goods in eleven months.

Despite the near one-gain in the cost of imported goods, the trade gap was still lower in June than economists as a whole were expecting by more $1 billion, which gave a slight boost to stocks Wednesday morning in New York with the Dow up 37 points, or 0.40%, at 9278 at 9:44am ET.

The US trade gap for the first half of the year was $173 billion, though those figures were 50% lower than year-ago levels, the Commerce Department reports. If the nation finished out the year at the same rate the US trade gap would be at its lowest level since 1999 when the US trade gap was $265 billion.

Still, the street expects the second half of the year to show even higher spreads between the cost of goods imported over exports with crude oil prices in August holding near $70 per barrel. In June, the average price of oil imported into the United States was $59.17, marking the fourth consecutive month of gains.

The Commerce Department reported the exports in June edged up 2.0% to $125.8 billion. Imports of goods and services in June climbed 2.3% to $152.8 billion, which was the highest level since January.

China's trade gap with the US widened in June to $18.43 billion. The street watches the politically sensitive trade numbers between the United States and China very closely. Investors watched as the government reported that goods imported from China in June were $23.98 billion, while exports to China were only $5.55 billion.