Economics
U.S. Consumer Spending Cools; Inflation May Encourage Fed
- Incomes show best back-to-back increases since early 2017
- October consumption settles back after surge in auto sales
Pedestrians walk past The Gap Inc. store at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California.
Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/This article is for subscribers only.
U.S. consumer spending settled back in October to a still-decent pace after the biggest increase since 2009, as a post-storm surge in auto sales cooled. Incomes remained robust and inflation showed progress toward the Federal Reserve’s goal.
Purchases rose 0.3 percent, matching the median projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists, after a revised 0.9 percent advance in September, Commerce Department figures showed Thursday in Washington. Incomes grew 0.4 percent for a second month, marking the best back-to-back gains since early 2017.