by Calculated Risk on 12/23/2014 10:21:00 AM

The BEA released the Personal Income and Outlays report for November:

Personal income increased $54.4 billion, or 0.4 percent ... in November, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $67.9 billion, or 0.6 percent.
...
Real PCE -- PCE adjusted to remove price changes -- increased 0.7 percent in November, compared with an increase of 0.2 percent in October. ... The price index for PCE decreased 0.2 percent in November, in contrast to an increase of less than 0.1 percent in October. The PCE price index, excluding food and energy, increased less than 0.1 percent, compared within an increase of 0.2 percent. ... The November price index for PCE increased 1.2 percent from November a year ago. The November PCE price index, excluding food and energy, increased 1.4 percent from November a year ago.

The following graph shows real Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) through November 2014 (2009 dollars). Note that the y-axis doesn't start at zero to better show the change.

Click on graph for larger image.

The dashed red lines are the quarterly levels for real PCE.

Using the two-month method to estimate Q4 PCE growth, PCE was increasing at a 4.3% annual rate in Q4 2014 (using the mid-month method, PCE was increasing 4.5%). It looks like Q4 will be a strong quarter for PCE growth - revise up those Q4 GDP forecasts!