US national debt reaches $40 trillion, raising fiscal concerns across markets

The US gross national debt crossed $40 trillion for the first time on August 18, landing at roughly $40.047 trillion according to Treasury data. The milestone arrived faster than most fiscal analysts expected. The debt crossed $39 trillion just five months ago in March 2026, meaning the government effectively borrowed another trillion dollars in roughly five months. The numbers behind the number Of the $40 trillion total, approximately $32.26 trillion is debt held by the public, the kind that gets traded in bond markets and held by foreign governments, pension funds, and individual investors. The remaining $7.78 trillion sits in intragovernmental holdings, essentially money the government owes itself through trust funds like Social Security. The fiscal deficit through July of this year stood at $1.8 trillion, a 4% increase compared to the same period last year. That’s the gap between what the government collected in revenue and what it spent, and the gap is widening partly because court rulings curtailed tariff revenue that had been expected to narrow the shortfall. Annual net interest payments on the debt now exceed $1 trillion, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal...