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- Taiwan: Manufacturing PMI, Non-manufacturing PMI (Feb)
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Economy in Brief
U.S. Consumer Credit Outstanding Declines in January
Consumers reduced credit balances further in January...
U.S. Trade Deficit Widens to $68.2 Billion in January
The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened to $68.2 billion in January...
German Order Growth Gets Back in Gear Despite the Headwinds
German order growth is back in gear with total orders rising by 1.4% m/m in January...
U.S. Factory Orders & Shipments Rise Again in January
Manufacturing activity is strengthening. Factory orders rose 2.6% (2.8% y/y) in January...
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Rise Just 9,000
Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose modestly by 9,000 to 745,000 in the week ended February 27...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller April 18, 2005
Revenues from Tax Day (April 15th) for 2005 won't be tallied for another month, but the figures for the first half of FY 2005 indicate the U.S. Federal government's budget deficit lessened just $6.8B versus the first half of FY 2004. The scant improvement is off the pace needed to meet the latest CBO projection of a $365B deficit for FY 2005.
Growth in net receipts for the first six months of FY05 improved to 10.4%, more than triple the growth during the first six months of FY04. Individual tax receipts grew 8.5% versus a 1.2% decline in the first six months of FY04 and corporate tax receipts remained on a pace which doubled the year earlier level. Reflecting the improved job market, employment taxes grew 6.5% versus 1.3% growth last year.
Offsetting the improvement in revenue growth was steady, strong growth in federal outlays, about stable at 7.1% versus the first six months of 2005. Growth in Medicare outlays picked up to 9.5% versus 6.6% and social security outlays grew 5.4%, up from 4.2% in 2004. Veterans benefits grew 17.4%. These gains offset deceleration in defense spending which grew 7.3%, less than the year earlier rate but interest expense, up 9.1, started to grow again with higher rates.
An Analysis of the President's Budgetary Proposals for Fiscal Year 2006 from the Congressional Budget Office is available here.
US Government Finance | Mar | Feb | FY '05 - YTD | FY2004 | FY2003 | FY2002 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Budget Balance | $-71.2B | $-113.9B | $-294.6B | $-412.1B | $-377.6B | $-157.8B |
Net Revenues | $148.7B | $100.9B | 10.4% | 5.5% | -3.8% | -6.9% |
Net Outlays | $220.0B | $214.8B | 7.1% | 6.1% | 7.4% | 7.9% |