than-expected U.S. trade deficit in June. The Commerce Department said the trade gap widened to $58.8 billion in June from $55.35 billion a month earlier. Economists had predicted a shortfall of $57.3 billion. U.S. import prices rose 1.1 percent in July, pushed higher by soaring petroleum costs, the government said. Analysts had expected import prices to rise 0.7 percent after a 1.0 percent climb in June. In other economic data, a report from the University of Michigan showed a decline in consumer confidence this month to 92.7 from this year's high of 96.5 in July. Economists expected the index to drop 96. Stock gainers included Nvidia Corp., the No.3 maker of computer graphics chips, whose shares advanced 5.6 percent to $29.81. The company reported second-quarter earnings surged more than 14-fold to $74.8 million, or 41 cents a share.
