New Bureau of Economic Analysis numbers show that personal income rose 0.5 percent in December (real disposable personal income up a slightly lower 0.4 percent) with Personal Consumption Expenditures basically flat at 0 percent.
I note that Personal Consumption Expenditures does not correspond all that well with one’s inuitive idea of what it means to run out and engage in some consumption (that’s more like “retail and food sales”) and PCE can be depressed by things like unseasonably warm weather (less expenditure on home heat) or policy success in restraining the growth in health care costs.
