by Calculated Risk on 3/01/2012 08:57:00 AM

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

Personal income increased $37.4 billion, or 0.3 percent ... in January, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $23.2 billion, or 0.2 percent.
...
Real PCE -- PCE adjusted to remove price changes -- increased less than 0.1 percent in January, in contrast to a decrease of less than 0.1 percent in December. ... The price index for PCE increased 0.2 percent in January, compared with an increase of 0.1 percent in December. 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 January (2005 dollars). Note that the y-axis doesn't start at zero to better show the change.

Click on graph for larger image.

PCE increased 0.2% in January, and real PCE increased less than 0.1%.

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

The personal saving rate was at 4.6% in January.

Real PCE has been essentially flat since October.