Consumer spending rose by a scant 0.2% in February, a big slowdown from prior month that suggests households may have gotten more cautious.
The numbers: Consumer spending rose by a scant 0.2% in February, a big slowdown from prior month that suggests households may have gotten more cautious as strains on the economy intensify.
Analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a 0.3% increase. The surge in sales in January, meanwhile, was revised up to 2%.Key details: Americans spent less last month on new cars and trucks, continuing an up-and-down pattern that has been a staple since the pandemic. A burst of sales in January had padded consumer spending in the first month of the year.
The U.S. savings rate, meanwhile, rose again to 4.6% and hit a 13-month high . Savings had fallen late last year to the lowest level since 2005. The so-called PCE price index, the Fed’s favorite inflation barometer, increased a milder 0.3% in February. But inflation is still running high.
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