By Staff Reporters
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The U.S. government on Friday posted a $1.695 trillion budget deficit in fiscal 2023, a 23% jump from the prior year as revenues fell and outlays for Social Security, Medicare and interest costs on the federal debt rose significantly.
The Treasury Department said the deficit was the largest since a COVID-fueled $2.78 trillion gap in 2021 and marks a major return to ballooning deficits after back-to-back declines during President Joe Biden’s first two years in office. The deficit comes as Biden is asking Congress for $100 billion in new foreign aid and security spending, including $60 billion for Ukraine and $14 billion for Israel, along with funding for U.S. border security and the Indo-Pacific region.
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CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource
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Here is where the major benchmarks ended:
- The S&P 500® Index was down 53.84 points (1.3%) at 4,224.16, down 2.4% for the week; the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) was down 286.89 points (0.9%) at 33,127.28, down 1.6% for the week; the NASDAQ Composite was down 202.37 points (1.5%) at 12,983.81, down 3.2% for the week.
- The 10-year Treasury note yield was up about 8 basis points at 4.907%.
- CBOE’s Volatility Index (VIX) was up 0.26 at 21.71.
Small-cap stocks, which are considered to be more exposed to economic uncertainty, were also soft, as the Russell 2000 Index (RUT) dropped to a 12-month low and was 2.2% lower for the week.
Gold futures rose 2.3% for the week and ended near a three-month high, as the fighting in the Middle East fueled demand for assets considered to be safe havens. Volatility based on the VIX spiked to its highest level since March.
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Filed under: "Ask-an-Advisor", Alerts Sign-Up, Financial Planning, Funding Basics, iMBA, Inc., Investing | Tagged: budget deficit, CBOE, DJI, DJIA, DOW, gold, medicare, NSDAQ, oil, Russell 2000, Russell 2000 Index, RUT, S&P 500, social security, Treasury Department, VIX |
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