June 25, 2021

Personal Income and Outlays  (May 2021)

- Personal Income month/month   -2.0%. Previous was -13.1%

- Personal Consumption Expenditures month/month  0.0%.Previous was +0.9%

- PCE Price Index month/month    0.4%    %. Previous was 0.6%    

- PCE Price Index year/year    3.9%. Previous was 3.6%

- Core PCE Price Index month/month    0.5%. Previous was  0.7%

- Core PCE Price Index year/year  3.4%. Previous was 1.1%

The drops in income in April and May are the result of the end of government handouts. The increase in PCE (an inflation metric) is large but mainly limited to several components - air travel, used cars, and car rentals.  Spending was flat. Folks spent more on services and less on expensive items.  In essence what we are seeing is transition out of the lockdowns making it difficult to draw implications from the data.

Source:  BEA  Details:  https://www.bea.gov/data/income-saving/personal-income

 

Consumer Sentiment (June 2021)

- Index 85.5. Previous was 86.4

This is supposed to measure consumers stated views as to spending in the next 3 months.  

Source: University of Michigan's Consumer Survey Center     Details:  http://www.sca.isr.umich.edu/