Highlights
Eleven months into the fiscal year, the government's deficit slowed further in August and is down 5.6 percent vs this time last year. The biggest improvement is in corporate taxes which are up 31 percent. Individual taxes, which is a much larger source of income for the Treasury, are also higher, up 3.9 percent. The outlay side shows a 2.2 percent drop in defense spending and only a fractional increase in net interest payments. For August alone, the deficit is $190.5 billion. This is much higher than the Econoday consensus for a $160.0 billion deficit but reflects calendar adjustments without which the deficit would have been sharply below the consensus at $121.1 billion. After adjustments, the fiscal year-to-date deficit is down 6.7 percent.

Market Consensus before announcement
The U.S. Treasury monthly budget report showed a deficit of $69.6 billion for the lowest July deficit since 2007. Calendar effects did move about $12 billion of spending into June and boosted receipts for July by about $6 billion. Ten months into the fiscal year, the Treasury's deficit, at $973.8 billion, was 11.5 percent smaller than the prior year. Looking ahead, the month of August typically shows a deficit for the month. Over the past 10 years, the average deficit for the month of August has been $79.1 billion and $97.5 billion over the past 5 years. The August 2011 deficit came in at $134.1 billion.

2012 Release Schedule

Released On: 1/12 2/10 3/12 4/11 5/10 6/12 7/12 8/10 9/13 10/12 11/13 12/12 Release For: Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov