Consumers kept up their spending ways in January, with personal consumption expenditures (PCE) rising nine-tenths of a percentage point, just about what economists expected, according to data released March 1 by the U.S. Commerce Department.
January's increase in personal income was seven-tenths of a percentage point, a tenth percent better than economists anticipated, but two-tenths of a percent below the increase in personal spending.
Prices as measured by core PCE, which excludes changes in the cost of food and fuel and is the Federal Reserve's favored measure of inflation, increased 1.8% in January, a tenth of a percent below economists' expectations.
