Consumer Spending Rises Slightly in September

Consumer spending increased slightly in September as households banked money ahead of the partial government shutdown, the Commerce Department reported Nov.8.

Household purchases rose 0.2% after August’s 0.3% gain, according to Commerce.

September’s increase matched the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

The saving rate rose to the highest level of the year as incomes increased 0.5 % for a second month, Bloomberg reported.

“Consumers are doing OK, they’re spending,” Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist in New York at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., told Bloomberg. “Big-ticket purchases are doing reasonably well.”

Automobile demand held up at the start of the fourth quarter for General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. as sales picked up toward the end of October. Light trucks and cars sold at a 15.2 million annual rate last month, matching September’s pace, Bloomberg said.

A rise in consumer spending could increase demand for new factory goods and the trucking shipments that move them to stores.