WASHINGTON – Personal income was up 0.4% in January, while nominal PCE rose only 0.2% and the core PCE price index rose 0.3%, data released by the Commerce Department Wednesday morning showed.
The core price index's 1.7% year/year rise was unchanged from December and remained in the tight range seen over much of the last year.
The overall PCE price index was up 0.4% in January, as energy prices surged 4.2%. The year/year rate for overall prices jumped to 1.9% from 1.6% in December and is now the highest since April 2012.
The 0.2% gain in current dollar PCE followed a 0.5% rise in December. Spending on durable goods fell by 0.3% in the month, but nondurable goods spending rose 1.0% on energy prices and services spending was flat.
Real PCE fell 0.3% in January, the largest decline since September 2009. Real spending on durable goods fell 0.8%, nondurables spending was flat, and services spending fell 0.2%. The 0.3% decline in real PCE starts the first quarter off on a slow track, with the January level only 0.1% above the fourth quarter average at an annual rate.
Wages and salaries rose 0.4%% in the month, while the remaining income categories were generally higher.
Disposable personal income was up 0.3% in the month, while real disposable income was down 0.2%.
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