Personal Spending Up
U.S. personal spending rose 0.8 percent in August, following a revised 0.9 percent gain the month before, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, which credited lower tax withholding rates and tax credit checks with jumpstarting summer spending. But it wasn’t all spend, spend, spend. Consumers also saved, according to the Commerce Department, which found that personal savings rates (calculated as a percentage of disposable income) grew 3.8 percent in August, the second month in a row.
