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Miami Herald
3 days ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
Annual PCE inflation for April was 2.1%, in line with expectations
May 30 (UPI) -- April personal consumption expenditure inflation was up just 0.1% for an annual rate of 2.1%, according to a Friday Bureau of Economic Analysis report. "From the same month one year ago, the PCE price index for April increased 2.1%," the BEA report said. "Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 2.5% from one year ago." For the month, PCE inflation met the Dow Jones consensus forecast, but the annual rate was 0.1% lower than expected. "From the preceding month, the PCE price index for April increased 0.1%. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index also increased 0.1%.," the BEA said. Spending on housing and utilities services was up 24.7% in April, heath care services spendingincresed by 20.3%. Gasoline spending was up 8.1%. Spending on food and beverages, vehicles, recreational goods, financial services, insurance, clothing, footwear and motor vehicle parts all declined. The BEA also reported personal income in the United States was up 0.8% in April. "Disposable personal income (DPI)-personal income less personal current taxes-increased $189.4 billion (0.8%) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $47.8 billion (0.2%)," the BEA said in a statement. The income increase reflected both compensation increases and higher government social benefits to individuals, according to the BEA. In April there was a $47.8 billion increase in current-dollar PCE - comprised of a $55.8 billion rise in spending on services partially offset by an $8 billion decrease in spending for goods. Personal savings amounted to $1.12 trillion in April while the personal saving rate was 4.9%. That rate is saving as a percentage of disposable personal income. Copyright 2025 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
UPI
3 days ago
- Business
- UPI
Annual PCE inflation for April was 2.1%, in line with expectations
April personal consumption expenditure inflation was up just 0.1% for an annual inflation rate of 2.1%, according to a Friday Bureau of Economic Analysis report. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo May 30 (UPI) -- April personal consumption expenditure inflation was up just 0.1% for an annual rate of 2.1%, according to a Friday Bureau of Economic Analysis report. "From the same month one year ago, the PCE price index for April increased 2.1%," the BEA report said. "Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 2.5% from one year ago." For the month, PCE inflation met the Dow Jones consensus forecast, but the annual rate was 0.1% lower than expected. "From the preceding month, the PCE price index for April increased 0.1%. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index also increased 0.1%.," the BEA said. Spending on housing and utilities services was up 24.7% in April, heath care services spendingincresed by 20.3%. Gasoline spending was up 8.1%. Spending on food and beverages, vehicles, recreational goods, financial services, insurance, clothing, footwear and motor vehicle parts all declined. The BEA also reported personal income in the United States was up 0.8% in April. "Disposable personal income (DPI)-personal income less personal current taxes-increased $189.4 billion (0.8%) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $47.8 billion (0.2%)," the BEA said in a statement. The income increase reflected both compensation increases and higher government social benefits to individuals, according to the BEA. In April there was a $47.8 billion increase in current-dollar PCE - comprised of a $55.8 billion rise in spending on services partially offset by an $8 billion decrease in spending for goods. Personal savings amounted to $1.12 trillion in April while the personal saving rate was 4.9%. That rate is saving as a percentage of disposable personal income.
Free Malaysia Today
4 days ago
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
US corporate profits decrease sharply in Q1
US President Donald Trump's sweeping import duties have cast a shadow over the economy. (File pic) WASHINGTON : US corporate profits fell sharply in the first quarter (Q1) and could continue to be squeezed this year by higher costs from tariffs that are threatening to undercut the economic expansion. Profits from current production with inventory valuation and capital consumption adjustments dropped US$118.1 billion last quarter, the commerce department's bureau of economic analysis (BEA) said today. Profits surged US$204.7 billion in the October-December quarter. President Donald Trump's sweeping import duties have cast a shadow over the economy, knocking business and consumer sentiment as well as unleashing unprecedented volatility on financial markets. Yesterday, a US trade court blocked most of Trump's tariffs from going into effect in a sweeping ruling that the president overstepped his authority. Economists said the ruling, while it offered some relief, had added another layer of uncertainty over the economy. The increasingly uncertain environment was echoed in minutes of the Federal Reserve's May 6-7 meeting published yesterday, which noted 'participants judged that downside risks to employment and economic activity and upside risks to inflation had risen, primarily reflecting the potential effects of tariff increases'. Companies ranging from airlines, retailers to motor vehicle manufacturers have either withdrawn or refrained from giving financial guidance for 2025, citing the uncertainty caused by the on-again and off-again nature of some duties. Businesses front-loaded imports and households engaged in pre-emptive buying of goods last quarter to avoid higher costs, making it difficult to get a clear picture of the economy. 'The deluge of imports sent gross domestic product (GDP) declining at an upwardly revised 0.2% annualised rate in the January-March quarter,' the BEA said in its second estimate of GDP. The economy was initially estimated to have contracted at a 0.3% pace. It grew at a 2.4% rate in the fourth quarter (Q4). When measured from the income side, the economy also contracted at a 0.2% rate in Q1. Gross domestic income (GDI) expanded at a 5.2% pace in the October-December quarter. The average of GDP and GDI, also referred to as gross domestic output and considered a better measure of economic activity, declined at a 0.2% rate. Gross domestic output grew at a 3.8% pace in Q4.
Wall Street Journal
06-05-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Yes, the U.S. GDP Decline Is an Ominous Sign
Engines on the chassis production line at the General Motors assembly plant in Fort Wayne, Ind., April 9, 2024. Photo: Emily Elconin/Bloomberg News U.S. gross domestic product shrank by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2025, according to an April 30 report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The BEA press release suggests this isn't cause for concern, as the decline is mostly a statistical artifact: 'The decrease in real GDP in the first quarter primarily reflected an increase in imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP.' That's wrong. The BEA collects data on total consumption, investment and government spending and must subtract imports in computing GDP. But that's no statistical artifact. GDP is a measure of domestic production, and imported goods aren't produced in the U.S. Exports are also added in measuring GDP, since they are produced but not consumed here. The GDP number for the quarter is down because America produced less, not because it imported more.
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Business Standard
06-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
US trade deficit swells to record high amid rush to beat tariffs in March
The US trade deficit widened to a record high in March as businesses boosted imports of goods ahead of tariffs, which dragged gross domestic product into negative terrain in the first quarter for the first time in three years. The trade gap jumped 14.0 per cent to a record $140.5 billion from a revised $123.2 billion in February, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) said on Tuesday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the trade deficit rising to $137.0 billion from the previously reported $122.7 billion in February. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs, including raising duties on Chinese imports to a staggering 145 per cent, fueled a rush by businesses to bring in merchandise to avoid higher costs. While reciprocal tariffs with most of the United States' trade partners were suspended for 90 days, duties on Chinese goods came into effect in early April, triggering a trade war with Beijing. Imports vaulted 4.4 per cent to an all-time high $419.0 billion in March. Goods imports soared 5.4 per cent to a record $346.8 billion. Exports climbed 0.2 per cent to $278.5 billion, also a record high. Exports of goods increased 0.7 per cent to $183.2 billion. The government reported last week that the trade deficit cut a record 4.83 percentage points from GDP last quarter, resulting in the economy contracting at a 0.3 per cent annualized rate, the first decline since the first quarter of 2022. Economists expect the flood of imports to ebb by May, which could help GDP to rebound in the second quarter. They, however, caution that the lift from subsiding imports could be offset by a drop in exports as other nations boycott American goods and travel. There has been a decrease in visitors to the US, especially from Canada, in protest over the punitive tariffs as well as an immigration crackdown and Trump's musings about annexing Canada and Greenland.
