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The
Commerce Department said on Friday consumer spending edged up
0.1 percent after an unrevised 0.4 percent rise in August.
Consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S.
economic activity.
September's consumer spending data was included in Thursday's
third-quarter gross domestic product report. Consumer spending
rose at a brisk 3.2 percent annual pace in the third quarter,
helping to lift GDP growth to a 1.5 percent rate.
Growth in the third quarter was constrained by business efforts
to whittle down an inventory bloat, a strong dollar and ongoing
spending cuts by energy companies.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast consumer spending
climbing 0.2 percent last month. When adjusted for inflation,
consumer spending rose 0.2 percent in September after increasing
0.4 percent in August, suggesting consumption will continue to
support the economy through the rest of the year.
Personal income ticked up 0.1 percent in September, the smallest
rise since March, after increasing 0.4 percent in the prior
month. With spending sluggish, inflation remained benign in
September.
A price index for consumer spending slipped 0.1 percent, the
first decline since January, after being flat in August. In the
12 months through September, the personal consumption
expenditures (PCE) price index rose 0.2 percent, the smallest
increase since April.
It increased 0.3 percent in August. Excluding food and energy,
prices rose 0.1 percent for a fifth straight month. The
so-called core PCE price index rose 1.3 percent in the 12 months
through September after a similar gain in August.
Inflation has persistently run below the Federal Reserve's 2
percent target.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)
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