Recent Updates
- US: New Residential Sales (Mar), FHFA Monthly HPI (Feb)
- Euro area: Flash Consumer Confidence (Apr)
- Canada: Wholesale Trade (Feb)
- Canada Regional: Wholesale Trade by Province (Feb)
- Luxembourg: Employment (Mar)
- Mexico: Employment (Mar)
- Brazil: IPC-S (Apr)
- Greece: Non-financial Accounts (2018)
- Hong Kong: CPI (Mar)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Energy Prices Plateau
Retail gasoline prices edged one penny higher last week to $2.84 per gallon last week (1.5% y/y). ...
U.S. Existing Home Sales Weaken as Prices Rise
The NAR reported that sales of existing homes fell 4.9% (-5.4% y/y) during March to 5.210 million units (SAAR)...
U.S. Housing Starts Weaken to Nearly Two-Year Low
Total housing starts during March eased 0.3% (-14.2% y/y) to 1.139 million (SAAR)...
Confidence, Italian Style, Erodes a Bit
Consumer and business confidence peaked in the mature portion of this cycle about 1.5 years ago...
U.S. Retail Sales Rebound Is Broad-Based
Total retail sales increased 1.6% during March following a 0.2% February dip...
by Tom Moeller November 13, 2018
The U.S. Treasury Department reported that the federal government ran a $100.5 billion budget deficit during October, the first month of the new fiscal year. The deficit compared to a shortfall of $63.2 billion during October 2017. A $122 billion deficit had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey.
Net revenues increased 7.4% y/y, led by a surge in corporate income tax receipts. Individual income taxes increased 0.8% y/y, compared to a 6.1% rise during all of FY'17. Social insurance receipts rose 3.0% y/y following last year's 0.8% gain, and excise taxes nearly doubled y/y after last year's 13.3% increase.
Government spending increased 18.3% y/y after two years of modest growth. National defense spending rose 11.1% y/y after a 5.3% gain last year. Health insurance spending increased 5.0% y/y while Medicare outlays roughly doubled y/y. Growth in income security payments surged. Social Security payments rose a steady 5.0% y/y. Interest payments increased by 12.4% y/y with the larger budget deficit.
Receipt & outlay figures often are quite variable y/y near the start of a new fiscal year.
Haver's data on Federal Government outlays and receipts are contained in USECON. Considerable detail is given in the separate GOVFIN database. The Action Economics Forecast Survey numbers are in the AS1REPNA database.
| United States Government Finance | Oct | FY'18 | FY'17 | FY'16 | FY'15 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Budget Balance (Billions) | -- | $-100.5 | $-779.0 | $-665.8 | $-585.6 | $-439.1 |
| As a percent of GDP | -- | -- | 3.9% | 3.5% | 3.2% | 2.5% |
| % of Total | ||||||
| Net Revenues (Fiscal Year YTD 2018, Y/Y Change) | 100 | 7.4% | 0.4% | 1.5% | 0.6% | 7.6% |
| Individual Income Taxes | 51 | 0.8 | 6.1 | 2.7 | 0.3 | 10.5 |
| Corporate Income Taxes | -- | 214.5 | -31.1 | -0.8 | -12.9 | 7.2 |
| Social Insurance Taxes | 35 | 3.0 | 0.8 | 4.2 | 4.7 | 4.1 |
| Excise Taxes | 3 | 97.2 | 13.3 | -11.8 | -3.3 | 5.3 |
| Net Outlays (Fiscal Year 2017 YTD, Y/Y % Change) | 100 | 18.3 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 4.5 | 5.3 |
| National Defense | 16 | 11.1 | 5.3 | 6.1 | 0.7 | -2.3 |
| Health | 13 | 5.0 | 3.3 | -1.9 | 6.2 | 17.8 |
| Medicare | 14 | 107.6 | -1.4 | 0.6 | 8.7 | 6.7 |
| Income Security | 12 | 41.1 | -1.6 | -2.1 | 1.0 | -0.9 |
| Social Security | 24 | 5.0 | 4.5 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 4.4 |
| Veterans Benefits & Services | 4 | 102.6 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 9.3 | 6.8 |
| Education, Training, Employment & Social Services | 2 | 5.0 | -34.0 | 31.6 | -10.2 | 34.7 |
| Interest | 8 | 12.4 | 23.6 | 9.1 | 7.8 | -1.8 |
