-->WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. current account deficit widened slightly to a record $164.71 billion in the third quarter as the goods trade shortfall grew and the services surplus shrank, the government said on Thursday.

While it hit a record, the gap -- running at a hefty 5.6 percent of the size of the U.S. economy -- still came in a good bit below the $170 billion reading Wall Street had braced for.

The deficit in the U.S. current account, the broadest measure of the nation's trade with the rest of the world since it includes investment flows, grew by just $318 million in the July-September period from a revised second-quarter reading of $164.39 billion, the Commerce Department said.