Personal Income increased 0.4% in December; Spending increased 0.7%
The BEA released the Personal Income and Outlays report for December: Personal income increased $92.0 billion (0.4 percent at a monthly rate) in December, according to estimates released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Disposable personal income (DPI)—personal income less personal current taxes—increased $79.7 billion (0.4 percent) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $133.6 billion (0.7 percent). Personal outlays—the sum of PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments—increased $129.5 billion in December. Personal saving was $843.2 billion in December and the personal saving rate—personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income—was 3.8 percent. emphasis added The December PCE price index increased 2.6 percent year-over-year (YoY), up from 2.4 percent YoY in November, and down from the recent peak of 7.0 percent in June 2022.The PCE price index, excluding food and energy, increased 2.8 percent YoY, unchanged from 2.8 percent in November, and down from the recent peak of 5.4 percent in February 2022. The following graph shows real Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) through December 2024 (2017 dollars). Note that the y-axis doesn't start at zero to better show the change. Click on graph for larger image. The dashed red lines are the quarterly levels for real PCE. Personal income was at expectations, and PCE was slightly above expectations.Inflation was slightly above expectations.
Personal income increased $92.0 billion (0.4 percent at a monthly rate) in December, according to estimates released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Disposable personal income (DPI)—personal income less personal current taxes—increased $79.7 billion (0.4 percent) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $133.6 billion (0.7 percent).The December PCE price index increased 2.6 percent year-over-year (YoY), up from 2.4 percent YoY in November, and down from the recent peak of 7.0 percent in June 2022.
Personal outlays—the sum of PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments—increased $129.5 billion in December. Personal saving was $843.2 billion in December and the personal saving rate—personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income—was 3.8 percent.
emphasis added
The following graph shows real Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) through December 2024 (2017 dollars). Note that the y-axis doesn't start at zero to better show the change.
Click on graph for larger image.
The dashed red lines are the quarterly levels for real PCE.
Personal income was at expectations, and PCE was slightly above expectations.