Personal Income, Disposable Income, and Personal Consumption Expenditures All Increase in December

On Friday, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that according to its estimates, personal income (PI) increased $60.0 billion, or 0.3%, month-over-month in December. Disposable personal income (DPI), personal income less personal current taxes, increased $51.8 billion, or 0.3%. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $133.9 billion, or 0.7%.

The PCE price index decreased 0.2% in December. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.2%. Real DPI increased 0.1% and real PCE increased 0.5%; goods increased 1.1% and services increased 0.3%.

Year-over-year, the PCE price index for December increased 2.6%. Prices for goods increased less than 0.1%, while prices for services increased 3.9%. Food prices increased 1.5%, while energy prices declined 2.2%. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 2.9% from one year ago.

Personal outlays—the sum of PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments—increased $134.7 billion in December. Personal saving was $766.7 billion, and the personal saving rate—personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income—was 3.7%.