Americans' personal income growth slows down, but spending rises in February

ISTANBUL

Americans' personal income growth slowed down in February, but their personal spending accelerated on a monthly basis, according to official figures released Friday.

Personal income increased $66.5 billion, or 0.3% at a monthly rate in February, according to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis on Friday.

The figure is a significant slowdown from the 1% monthly increase recorded in January, while it also came lower than the market estimates of a 0.4% gain.

"The increase in current-dollar personal income in February primarily reflected increases in compensation and personal current transfer receipts that were partly offset by a decrease in personal income receipts on assets," the agency said in a statement.

Disposable personal income, which is personal income minus personal current taxes, increased $50.3 billion, or 0.2%, from the previous month.

Personal spending, also referred to as personal consumption expenditures (PCE), increased $145.5 billion, or 0.8%, in February from the month before.

That figure showed a significant increase from the 0.2% monthly gain in January, while it came in much higher than the market expectations of a 0.5% gain.

"The $145.5 billion increase in current-dollar PCE in February reflected an increase of $111.8 billion in spending for services and a $33.7 billion increase in spending for goods," said the agency.

"Personal saving was $745.7 billion in February and the personal saving rate—personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income—was 3.6 percent," it added.