WASHINGTON – Personal income rose 0.5% in October, consumption increased 0.4%, and the annual core personal consumption expenditures figure rose by the smallest amount on record, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.
Core PCE, which excludes food and energy spending and is the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, increased 0.9% annually in October, the smallest on record dating back to 1960. Annual core PCE increased 1.2% in September. From September to October, core PCE was unchanged.
Incomes had been flat in September. Disposable personal income increased 0.4%.
Economists expected consumption would increase 0.5% and incomes would rise 0.4%, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
The personal savings rate, which is disposable personal income minus personal outlays, increased to $651.1 billion, or 5.7% of disposable personal income.
