The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in December as oil import prices had the biggest decline in nearly 14 years, while first-time claims for jobless benefits fell to the lowest level in more than 4 years.

December’s trade deficit declined 4.9 percent to $56.4 billion, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. That compared to a revised November shortfall of $59.3 billion, which was still the all-time monthly high but down from a previously reported $60.3 billion.

But the annual trade gap still widened more than 24 percent in 2004 to a record $617.7 billion. The deficit for all of last year was 24.4 percent above the previous record.

In a second report, the Labor Department said that the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits totaled 303,000 last week, a decline of 13,000 from the previous week. That put new filings at their lowest level since October 2000.

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