By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- U.S. consumers kept spending in September, at a rate that outstripped the rise in prices during the month, according to data released on Friday.
Personal spending rose 0.6% on the month, in line with an August figure that was revised up from an initially-reported 0.4% gain. As such, spending rose faster than the price of the average consumer shopping basket, given that the price index for personal consumer expenditures rose by only 0.3%.
The figures are a testament to the resilience of U.S. consumer spending. They contrast starkly with a number of other recent economic indicators suggesting that the economy is slowing down, but corroborate the generally strong numbers posted by consumer-facing companies in the third quarter.
Spending also rose faster than personal incomes, which rose 0.4% from August.
Core PCE prices rose 0.5% on the month, maintaining a pace of increase that will concern the Federal Reserve, for whom the PCE basket is a more reliable guide to actual inflation in the economy than the Consumer Price Index. The annual core PCE index rose from 4.9% to 5.1%, a little lower than the 5.2% predicted.