EmailPersonal income increased 0.4% in September after increasing 0.1% in August. The Briefing.com consensus expected income to rise 0.4%. Personal spending rose 0.8% in September, up from a 0.5% gain in August, and well above the consensus estimate of 0.6% growth. Both the income and spending data were already incorporated in the Q3 2012 GDP data that were released last week. Absent any revisions to July and August data, the GDP report showed income and spending increased 0.5% and 0.8%, respectively, in September. Goods spending rose 1.5% in September, down from a 1.6% increase in August.
Spending on durable goods rose 1.1% while demand for nondurable goods increased 0.7%. Services demand rose 0.4%. That was the largest increase in services demand since a 0.5% increase in April. Headline prices rose 0.4% for the second consecutive month. Core prices increased 0.1% for the third consecutive month and were in-line with consensus expectations. Year-over-year, core prices are up 1.7% and are within the Federal Reserve’s target band of 1.5% - 2.0% yearly growth.
