by Calculated Risk on 1/31/2014 08:30:00 AM

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

Personal income increased $2.3 billion, or less than 0.1 percent ... in December according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $44.1 billion, or 0.4 percent.
...
Real PCE -- PCE adjusted to remove price changes -- increased 0.2 percent in December, compared with an increase of 0.6 percent in November. ... PCE price index -- The price index for PCE increased 0.2 percent in December, compared with an increase of less than 0.1 percent in November. The PCE price index, excluding food and energy, increased 0.1 percent in December, the same increase as in November.
...
Personal saving -- DPI less personal outlays -- was $495.2 billion in December, compared with $541.0 billion in November. The personal saving rate -- personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income -- was 3.9 percent in December, compared with 4.3 percent in November.

A key point is that the PCE price index was only up 1.1% year-over-year (1.2% for core PCE).   PCE increased at a 2.5% in December, but core PCE only increased at a 1.1% annualized rate in December (Well below the Fed's target).