Microsoft's $32.6 billion (R195.6 billion) special dividend payment last month raised US personal income and probably worsened the fourth-quarter current account deficit, said the commerce department.
About $24 billion of the payment will be recorded as personal dividend income in December, for an annual rate of $288 billion, the department's bureau of economic analysis said at the weekend.
That's enough to boost total US personal income by 2.9 percent in the month, according to Bloomberg data.
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