Personal Income Rises in May, Stocks Are Liking it

Personal income increased $69.4 billion (3.6 percent) in May, a slight but steady uptick, the Bureau of Economic Analysis announced Thursday.

Meanwhile, disposable personal income (DPI) increased $57.0 billion (0.5 percent) during the same period.

Although the numbers hold steady, the report is not much to get excited about.

“Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $29.0 billion, or 0.3 percent. In April, personal income increased $18.3 billion, or 0.1 percent, DPI increased $6.5 billion, or 0.1 percent, and PCE decreased $39.6 billion, or 0.3 percent, based on revised estimates,” the BEA report reads.

“Real disposable income increased 0.4 percent in May, compared with an increase of 0.3 percent in April.  Real PCE increased 0.2 percent, in contrast to a decrease of 0.1 percent,” it adds.

Wages and salary disbursement increased $19.7 billion in May, a healthy increase over April’s increase of $6.5 billion. Meanwhile, supplements to wages and salaries increased $3.4 billion in May, a healthy change from April’s 2.5 billon.

As noted in the headline, stocks are responding positively:

“However, despite this beat in income, spending was in line with expectations, and following the revisions of January-April data, the May 3.2% savings rate was the highest reported so far in 2013,” Zero Hedge notes.

“For the Keynesians out there, this is hardly the strong indicator of consumer spending they have been looking for,” the report adds:

Zero Hedge.

Here’s the complete BEA report:

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