U.S. Personal Income Unexpectedly Unchanged In October

The Commerce Department released a report on Wednesday showing U.S. personal income came in nearly flat in the month of October, while personal spending rose in line with economist estimates.

The report said personal income inched up by less than a tenth of a percent in October after rising by 0.3 percent in September. Economists had expected another 0.3 percent increase.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said disposable personal income, or personal income less personal current taxes, edged down by 0.1 percent in October after climbing by 0.3 percent in the previous month.

Real disposable income, which is adjusted to remove price changes, fell by 0.3 percent due to the unwinding of farm subsidies paid out by the Trump administration and a decrease in interest income as the Federal Reserve cut rates.

The report also said personal spending rose by 0.3 percent in October after edging up by 0.2 percent for two straight months. The increase in spending matched economist estimates.

Removing price change, real personal spending crept up by 0.1 percent in October following two consecutive 0.2 percent monthly upticks.

"Penciling in modest gains for November and December, that suggests that real consumption growth will slow from 2.9% annualized in the third quarter to around 2.0% in the fourth," said Andrew Hunter, Senior U.S. Economist at Capital Economics.

With spending rising and disposable income falling, personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income dropped to 7.8 percent in October from 8.1 percent in September.

A reading on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve showed the annual rate of core consumer price growth slipped to 1.6 percent in October from 1.7 percent in the previous month.