U.S. March Consumer Spending Picks Up; Inflation Hits Fed Goal
- Consumption-linked price measure rises 2% from year earlier
- Incomes rose 0.3% from prior month, less than forecasts
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U.S. consumer spending picked up in March while the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge hit the central bank’s 2 percent target for the first time in a year, reinforcing the outlook for further interest-rate hikes.
Purchases rose 0.4 percent from the prior month, matching estimates, after being little changed in February, Commerce Department figures showed Monday. The price gauge linked to consumption rose 2 percent from a year earlier after 1.7 percent in February; excluding food and energy, which officials see as a better gauge of underlying trends, it was up 1.9 percent.