Not good.
Personal income was unchanged in October. Economists were looking for a 0.2 percent gain.
Spending unexpectedly fell 0.2 percent. Economists were expecting this to be unchanged.
Right away, people are blaming Hurricane Sandy.
Presumably, economists took Sanday into account. So, the explanation is that the impact of Sandy has been worse than expected.
In yesterday's Q3 GDP report, personal consumption was revised down sharply. Hopefully, today's disappointing spending report, which reflects the first month of Q4, isn't the beginning of a trend in the U.S. consumer.
Meanwhile, U.S. futures are up a tad.
From the BEA report:
Personal income increased $0.4 billion, or less than 0.1 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI) increased $0.8 billion, or less than 0.1 percent, in October, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) decreased $20.2 billion, or 0.2 percent. In September, personal income increased $47.8 billion, or 0.4 percent, DPI increased $42.1 billion, or 0.4 percent, and PCE increased $84.0 billion, or 0.8 percent, based on revised estimates.
Real disposable income decreased 0.1 percent in October, compared with an increase of less than 0.1 percent in September. Real PCE decreased 0.3 percent, in contrast to an increase of 0.4 percent.
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