by Calculated Risk on 1/30/2012 08:32:00 AM

The BEA released the Personal Income and Outlays report for December:

Personal income increased $61.3 billion, or 0.5 percent ... in December, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) decreased $2.0 billion, or less than 0.1 percent.
...
Real PCE -- PCE adjusted to remove price changes -- decreased 0.1 percent in December ... PCE price index -- The price index for PCE increased 0.1 percent in December, in contrast to a decrease of less than 0.1 percent in
November. The PCE price index, excluding food and energy, increased 0.2 percent, compared with an increase of 0.1 percent.

The following graph shows real Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) through December (2005 dollars). Note that the y-axis doesn't start at zero to better show the change.

Click on graph for larger image.

PCE decreased less than 0.1% in December, and real PCE decreased 0.1%.

Note: The PCE price index, excluding food and energy, increased 0.2 percent.

The personal saving rate was at 4.0% in December.

Not much of an increase in PCE since October.