US Real Consumer Spending Rises Most in 17 Months
2026-09-30 12:42
By
Kyrie Dichosa
1 min. read
Inflation-adjusted US personal spending increased 0.6% month-on-month in August 2026, the most since March 2025, accelerating from a 0.1% rise in July.
Goods spending rose 1.3%, reversing a 0.5% decline in the prior month, driven by higher spending on motor vehicles and parts (2.6% vs -0.8%), recreational goods and vehicles (1.9% vs -2.7%) and other nondurable goods (1.5% vs -0.3%).
In contrast, spending on gasoline and other energy goods stalled after rising 0.3% previously.
Meanwhile, services spending increased 0.2%, slowing from a 0.3% rise, amid higher spending on food services and accommodations (0.8% vs 0.4%), financial services and insurance (0.3% vs -0.1%) and transportation services (0.2% vs 0.4%), while recreation services declined 1.1% following a 0.2% increase.
In turn, spending on housing and utilities edged up 0.1%, unchanged from July.