April Personal Income and Spending

Updated: 28-May-26 10:14 ET

Highlights

• Personal income for April decreased slightly, resulting in an unchanged month-over-month reading ( consensus 0.5%) after a revised 0.5% increase (from 0.6%) in March.
• Personal spending rose 0.5% month-over-month ( consensus 0.4%) following a revised 1.0% increase (from 0.9%) in March.
• The PCE Price Index increased 0.4% month-over-month ( consensus 0.5%), leaving it up 3.8% yr/yr versus 3.5% in March.
• The core PCE Price Index rose 0.2% ( consensus 0.3%), leaving it up 3.3% yr/yr versus 3.2% in March.

Key Factors

• The PCE Index for Goods was up 0.7% in April after increasing 1.4% in March. The index was up 1.2% year-over-year in April versus 1.0% in March.
• The PCE Price Index for Services was up 0.3% in April after increasing 0.3% in March. The index was up 2.5% year-over-year versus 2.6% in March.
• Wages and salaries increased 0.2% month-over-month in April after increasing 0.4% in March.
• Real disposable income decreased 0.5% month-over-month in April after decreasing 0.2% in March.
• Real personal spending was up 0.1% month-over-month after increasing 0.3% in March.
• The personal savings rate, as a percentage of disposable personal income, fell to 2.6% from 3.6% in March.

Big Picture

• The key takeaway from the report is that the lack of income growth combined with an acceleration in the year-over-year core PCE Price Index (to 3.3% from 3.2%) will invite stagflationary concerns, especially if this dynamic continues in the following months.