U.S. Personal Income, Spending Climb More Than Expected In September

(RTTNews) - A report released by the Commerce Department on Friday showed personal income in the U.S. rose by slightly more than expected in the month of September.

The Commerce Department said personal income climbed by 0.4 percent in September, matching the upwardly revised increase in August.

Economists had expected personal income to rise by 0.3 percent, which would have matched the growth originally reported for the previous month.

The slightly stronger than expected personal income growth primarily reflected increases in compensation and personal income receipts on assets.

Disposable personal income, or personal income less personal current taxes, also rose by 0.4 percent in September after climbing by 0.5 percent in August.

The report also showed personal spending increased by 0.6 percent in September following an upwardly revised 0.6 percent advance in August.

Personal spending was expected to climb by 0.4 percent, matching the increase originally reported for the previous month.

Real personal spending, which excludes price changes, edged up by 0.3 percent for the second consecutive month.

With spending increasing by more than income, personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income fell to 3.1 percent in September from 3.4 percent in August.

Meanwhile, a reading on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve showed the annual rate of core consumer price growth accelerated to 5.1 percent in September from 4.9 percent in August.

Economists had expected the annual rate of growth in core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, to accelerate to 5.2 percent.

"Inflation is too high for the Fed and we think the stage is set for another 75bps rate hike by the Federal Reserve in November, followed by a 50bps increase in December," said Oren Klachkin, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.

A separate report from the Labor Department showed its employment cost index shot up by 1.2 percent in the third quarter after surging by 1.3 percent in the second quarter. The jump matched economist estimates.

The annual rate of growth by the employment cost index slowed slightly to 5.0 percent in the third quarter from 5.1 percent in the second quarter.