It was the largest quarterly drop in more than a decade, and the second consecutive quarterly decline.
It was the second straight quarterly decline; the deficit had fallen an even sharper 11.4 percent in the first three months of the year.
Offsetting the quarterly decline were other figures suggesting the market was essentially stable.
Morgan Stanley reported its eighth consecutive quarterly decline in profits.
A drop in third-quarter earnings would be the third consective quarterly decline.
China's official foreign currency reserves fell in the last three months of 2011, marking their first quarterly decline since 1998.
Employment in the sector fell in June and for the second quarter as a whole - the first quarterly decline since 1958.
The drop in the current account deficit was the third consecutive quarterly decline.
It was the first quarterly decline since 1986.
It is the first quarterly decline in the aggregate since 1959, when the Fed began tracking M-2.