WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. consumer spending rose more than expected in September despite continued inflationary pressures, which are showing signs of stabilizing, however.
The Commerce Department on Friday reported a 0.6% increase in household spending last month, revising its August advance to 0.6% from a previously reported 0.4%.
Economists polled by Reuters on average expected a rise of 0.4% in September.
The consumer price index (PCE) for its part rose by 0.3% last month, as in August. Over one year, its increase was 6.2%, again like the previous month.
The same goes for the “core PCE” index, excluding energy and food, the most watched by the Federal Reserve, which rose by 0.5%. Its growth over one year, however, accelerated slightly, to 5.1% against 4.9% in August, but a little less than expected by economists who expected an increase of 5.2%.
With the Fed expected to raise interest rates again by three-quarters of a basis point at the end of its next meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, these first signs of a slowdown in inflation could fuel the debate on continuation of monetary tightening at the same pace in the United States.
(Report Lucia Mutikani, French version Lina Golovnya, edited by Bertrand Boucey)
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