Posted on 12/01/2005 5:53:22 AM PST by RWR8189
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumer spending rose 0.2 percent in October, as expected, driving the personal saving rate into negative territory for the fifth straight month, a government report showed on Thursday.
Personal income also rose in October, by 0.4 percent - slightly less than the 0.5 percent increase forecast by Wall Street, the Commerce Department said. That followed an outsized 1.7 percent rise in income in September, which was driven by insurance payments in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
The department's inflation measure - closely watched by policy-makers at the Federal Reserve - rose just 0.1 percent after an energy-led 0.9 percent spike in September.
Prices also rose 0.1 percent when volatile food and energy were excluded, less than the 0.2 percent increase expected by Wall Street. The small rise took the year-over-year measure of the so-called core PCE price index to just 1.8 percent - the smallest increase since February 2004 - from 2.0 percent in September, a Commerce aide said.
The saving rate, the percentage Americans sock away after spending, taxes and interest payments, was minus 0.7 - the fifth straight negative reading. The saving rate has not been positive since March.
The Commerce Department said the impact of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma on income was almost a wash - rental and proprietors' income were reduced about $10 billion, while insurance benefit payments boosted incomes about $13 billion.
Simply amazing how Good Economic News has to be spun negatively by the Dinosaur Press. Hey twits, this sort of reporting is EXACTLY why most people simply no long take you seriously. You might want to consider why, despite 4% growth in the last quarter, your industry is having to fire people and is LOSING revenues.
Pretty soon the members of the Sour Grapes Party and the Doom and Gloom Party will show up..
The D&G's have been around on plenty of threads this week. Their ability to try and spin good news as bad is hysterical. Right out of the RAT playbook. Does someone pay these folks to be doom and gloomers or does it come naturally? :)
I don't know...
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