The U.S. trade deficit narrowed for a fourth straight month in November, government data showed Thursday, confounding economists who had expected a rebound.

The nation's trade deficit contracted a meager 0.3 percent to $38.3 billion from a revised $38.4 billion in October, the Commerce Department said, making it the smallest trade gap since January 2010.

Analysts surveyed by MarketWatch had expected the deficit to widen to $40.3 billion.

The trade deficit shrank 13.9 percent in October.

The last time the deficit shrank for four months in a row was during the global financial crisis - from late 2008 into early 2009.

Both exports and imports rose in November, but exports expanded at a slightly faster pace.

U.S. exports are rising because of faster growth in emerging markets and the decline in the dollar's value in foreign-exchange trading late last summer, economists said.

The improved trade sector could lead economists to revise forecasts for fourth-quarter growth in gross domestic product higher. Before the trade data, forecasts for GDP growth in the final three months of the year had hovered just above a 3 percent rate.

In November, exports rose 0.8 percent to $159.6 billion - the highest level since August 2008, just before the collapse of Lehman Brothers helped send the global economy reeling. Imports rose 0.6 percent to $198.0 billion.

Imports of goods alone rose 0.9 percent to $164.7 billion, with the gain coming from industrial supplies, principally crude oil.

Imports of food and beverages and capital goods set new records. On the other hand, imports of consumer goods and autos declined.

Meanwhile, exports of goods alone rose 1.2 percent on the month to $113.5 billion. U.S. companies exported a record amount of consumer goods and foods and beverages in the month, and exports of civilian aircraft increased.

The petroleum deficit widened 6 percent in November to $20.1 billion.

The value of U.S. crude-oil imports rose to $19.83 billion in November from $18.88 billion in October as the price of a barrel of oil rose to $76.81 from $74.18 in the previous month. The quantity of crude imports rose to 258.2 million barrels.

Despite the slight improvement in the overall trade gap, the U.S. trade deficit with China widened to $25.63 billion in November. This compared with $20.17 billion in the same month last year and $25.52 billion in October.

One positive note was that the U.S. exported a record $9.5 billion of goods to China in November.

For the first eleven months of the year, the U.S. recorded a $252.38 billion trade gap with China, up from $208.73 billion in the same period in 2009.

Chinese President Hu Jintao will visit Washington next week for a formal state visit.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Wednesday offered a carrot to Beijing, saying that the U.S. would consider allowing China to buy more high-tech U.S. goods if China took steps to create a level playing field for U.S. exports.

Geithner also repeated that China should let its currency, the yuan, strengthen at a faster pace.

American manufacturers believe that the low level of the yuan has given the Chinese an unfair trade advantage in terms of exports. Chinese officials counter that a higher value of the yuan would not solve the U.S. trade deficit.

Regarding the currency issue, House Republicans have indicated they do not plan to push legislation attacking China, although there had been a move late last fall to slap tariffs on Chinese goods if the country didn't allow the yuan to appreciate more quickly.