U.S. logs first monthly budget surplus in 42 months WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States posted a budget surplus for the first time in 42 months in April on a rise in tax receipts and a drop in government spending, the Treasury Department said on Thursday. The government notched a larger-than-expected $59.12 billion surplus in the month, compared with a $40.39 billion deficit in April 2011, the Treasury said on Thursday. The last time the government logged a surplus in any month was September 2008, when the worst of the financial crisis rocked Wall Street. Analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast a $30 billion surplus for April. While the one-month surplus would not signal a turnaround in U.S. indebtedness - the United States is still projected to run a fourth straight year of deficits topping $1 trillion - it is a reflection of a slowly improving economy. The cumulative budget deficit for the first seven months of the fiscal year totaled $719.86 billion, compared with a shortfall of $869.81 billion over the same period in fiscal year 2011. The government typically runs a budget surplus in April, when most Americans pay their income taxes. The government has been in the black in 44 of 58 Aprils since records have been kept. Reporting by Mark Felsenthal, Editing by Gary Crosse