US Personal Incomes Grow At Fastest Pace Of 2019, Spending Picks Up

After a surprise slowdown in October, analysts were hopeful of a rebound in incomes and spending of Americans in November and they got just that.

• US Personal Incomes rose 0.5% MoM (dramatically better than the 0.0% in October – revised up to +0.1% – and expectations of a 0.3% rise)

• US Personal Spending rose 0.4% MoM (printing as expected and accelerating from October’s +0.3%)

Source: Bloomberg

On a year-over-year basis, both incomes and spending re-accelerated but it was incomes that outperformed – up 4.9% YoY, the highest since Dec 2018

Source: Bloomberg

The specifics show private workers doing best:

• Private worker wages up 5.7% Y/Y

• Government worker wages up 3.4% Y/Y

The income over spending gap means that savings rose in November (personal savings rate rose from 7.8% to 7.9%)…

Finally, we note that The Fed’s favorite inflation indicator – the PCE Deflator – remains well below the ‘mandated’ 2.0% level…

Source: Bloomberg

Get back to work Mr.Powell?