Treasury Budget Deficit Narrows in August

The first thing that should come to mind (besides this being the third highest deficit reading of calendar 2014) is that the budget deficit in August is always a high number. Versus this $128.7 billion in August of 2014, the same month’s deficit was $147.9 billion in 2013 and $190.5 billion in August of 2012.

The numbers sound atrocious on the surface, but if you look at the fiscal year 2014 this is the lowest deficit for the first 11 months since 2008. This 11-month deficit figure is now $589.2 billion, which is 22% of a narrower deficit than the same period of 2013.

We would note that the Congressional Budget Office projected in August that the fiscal 2014 budget deficit would be closer to $506 billion. September is generally a month that has higher receipts than outlays, but the $589.2 billion is still quite a bit higher than $506 billion.

August’s improvement was due to almost 5% higher taxes on individuals and more than 14% better tax receipts from corporations. Lower spending was seen as well – defense at -5.1% and Medicare -1.6%.

The U.S Treasury Budget deficit is rarely a market mover. Even if it was going to be a moving force, the -$128.7 billion compared to a Bloomberg economist consensus estimate of -$130 billion.