US Personal Income and Outlays for February

On Thursday, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that personal income (PI) fell $18.2 billion, or 0.1%, at a monthly rate in February. Disposable personal income (DPI)—personal income less personal current taxes—fell $18.3 billion, or 0.19%. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) rose $103.2 billion, or 0.5%.

Month-over-month, the PCE price index rose 0.4%. Excluding food and energy, the index also rose 0.4%.

Year-over-year, the PCE price index rose 2.8% in February. Excluding food and energy, the index was up 3.0% from a year earlier.

Personal outlays—the sum of PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments—rose $106.5 billion in February. Personal saving was $931.5 billion, and the personal saving rate—personal saving as a percentage of DPI—was 4.0%.

The change in current-dollar personal income primarily reflected decreases in personal dividend income and personal current transfer receipts, BEA said.