Personal Income, Spending Oozed Up 0.1% for July

Americans are making more and spending more, according to a July Personal Income and Outlays report (link opens as PDF) released today by the Commerce Department.

After increasing 0.3% in June, personal income edged up another 0.1% ($38.2 billion), missing analyst estimates of a 0.2% gain.

For the same period, personal spending also increased 0.1% ($14.1 billion) after June's 0.6% increase. Analysts' predictions proved even further off the mark, having expected a 0.3% uptick.

The near-negligible moves didn't stop there. In a sign of slowing optimism on the future of the economy, durable goods spending increased a minimal 0.1% after bumping up 0.9% in June . Wages and salaries dropped off 0.3%. As overall wages and salaries tumbled $21.8 billion from June, a third of the decline came from forced furloughs of federal workers.

Looking back over the past 12 months, disposable personal income is up 0.8%, while personal spending has increased 1.7% in the same period.

-- Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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