--US March personal income +0.5%; spending +0.3%
--US March wages and salaries +0.5%
--US March services spending +0.7%; durable goods spending -1.1%
--US March personal saving rate -0.8%; February revised to -1.0%
--US March PCE price index unchanged; core PCE prices +0.1%
--US February personal income revised to +0.5% from +0.4%
--US February personal spending revised to +0.2% from +0.3%

By Andrew Williams
Washington, April 30 (BridgeNews) - U.S. personal income and consumption both grew in March, with income rising 0.5% and spending rising 0.3% after rising a revised 0.5% and 0.2% respectively in February, the Commerce Department said Monday. The meager savings rate was a negative 0.8%, marginally stronger than the revised negative 1.0% rate in February.
Economists surveyed by BridgeNews had predicted consumer income to rise 0.4 and outlays to gain 0.2%.
* * * The Commerce Department said spending on services, anything from utility payments to vacations, rose 0.7%, after being revised to a gain of 0.2% in the prior month. Services make up about 60% of consumer expenditures.
Spending on durable goods like appliances and furniture fell 1.1%, after rising 1.6% in February. Durable goods have a lifespan of over three years, and include cars and electrical appliances, meaning they are the most sensitive to changes in interest rates.
Meanwhile spending on non-durable goods such as food, clothing and gasoline, were unchanged.
On the income side, wages and salaries, which comprise over half of personal income, posted a 0.5% increase, after a rising a revised 0.6% the prior month.
However, disposable income--personal income minus tax and some non-tax payments--rose 0.5%, Commerce said.

INFLATION
The implicit price deflator for personal consumption expenditures, the Federal Reserve's preferred gauge of consumer inflation, was virtually unchanged, following a revised 0.3% gain of February. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the deflator rose 0.1% following a revised 0.3% advance the prior month.

WHAT WAS EXPECTED:
Estimates of economists surveyed by BridgeNews ranged from up 0.3% to up 0.5% for income, and from unchanged to up 0.4% for spending.