USA: Consumer spending rebounds in August, inflation rises | Photo credits: Thomas Hawk / CC BY-NC 2.0
WASHINGTON, Sept 30 (Reuters) – U.S. consumer spending rebounded in August, but the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes in the face of inflation are dampening demand, which could limit the projected recovery in activity economy this quarter.
Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, rose 0.4% last month after falling 0.2% in July, the Commerce Department said on Friday.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected consumer spending to rise 0.2%.
The personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index rose 0.3% last month after falling 0.1% in July.
In August, the PCE price index rose 6.2% after rising 6.4% in July. (Report Lucia Mutikani; French version Alizée Degorce, edited by Sophie Louet)