WASHINGTON - Personal income rose 0.2% in August, while personal spending increased 1.3%, fueled largely by the success of the “cash for clunkers” program, new data on personal consumption expenditures released by the Commerce Department this morning showed.
Core PCE was up 0.1%.
The report said that the program, which ended Aug. 24, also accounted for “most” of a 5.8% spike in the purchase of durable goods, compared with a 1.8% rise the previous month, as well as a 1.0% rise in the purchase of nondurable goods, compared to a 0.3% decrease in July.
The cash for clunkers program provided credit for customers who traded in their old cars and purchased a qualifying new, more fuel-efficient auto or light truck.
The 1.3% rise in personal spending followed a revised 0.3% rise in July, originally reported as 0.2%.
Meanwhile, personal income’s rise was the same 0.2% as the revised level for the previous month, originally reported as unchanged.
A poll of economists by IFR Markets had predicted that personal spending would increase 1.1% and that personal income would increase 0.1%.
