US Personal Income and Outlays for February

On Friday, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that according to its estimates, personal income (PI) increased $194.7 billion, or 0.8%, at a monthly rate in February. Disposable personal income (DPI), personal income less personal current taxes, increased $191.6 billion, or 0.9%. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $87.8 billion, or 0.4%.

The increase in current-dollar personal income in February primarily reflected increases in personal current transfer receipts and compensation. The $87.8 billion increase in current-dollar PCE reflected increases of $56.3 billion in spending for goods and $31.5 billion in spending for services.

The PCE price index for February increased 0.3%. Excluding food and energy, the index increased 0.4%.

Year-over-year, the PCE price index increased 2.5%. Excluding food and energy, the index increased 2.8%.

Personal outlays—the sum of PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments—increased $118.4 billion in February. Personal saving was $1.02 trillion and the personal saving rate—personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income—was 4.6%.