U.S. Treasury Posts Budget Surplus

Here's a bit of welcome news ahead of President Obama's State of the Union address tonight. The U.S. Treasury announced that it posted its first January budget surplus in five years. Receipts showed the government in the black by $2.88 billion, a marked improvement from the $27.4 billion deficit reported in January 2012. The surplus is attributed to higher revenue from payroll and individual income tax. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the federal budget deficit will be $845 billion in fiscal year 2013, which would be the first time in five years the deficit comes in under the trillion-dollar mark.