US Personal Income and Outlays for January

On Friday, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that personal income (PI) increased $221.9 billion, or 0.9%, at a monthly rate in January. Disposable personal income (DPI), personal income less personal current taxes, increased $194.3 billion, or 0.9%. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) decreased $30.7 billion, or 0.2%.

The increase in current-dollar personal income in January primarily reflected increases in personal current transfer receipts, compensation, and personal income receipts on assets. The $30.7 billion decrease in current-dollar PCE reflected a decrease of $76.7 billion in spending for goods and an increase of $46.0 billion in spending for services.

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

Year-over-year, the PCE price index increased 2.5%. Excluding food and energy, the index increased 2.6% during the same time period.

Personal outlays—the sum of PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments—increased $129.5 billion in January. Personal saving was $1.01 trillion and the personal saving rate—personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income—was 4.6%.