US consumer spending down in Sandy-battered October

Updated: 2012-12-01 00:09

(Xinhua)

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WASHINGTON - US consumers spent less in October with their take-home income remaining almost flat affected by Superstorm Sandy, reported the Commerce Department on Friday.

US personal consumption declined 0.2 percent in October, while personal income edged up less than 0.1 percent last month, said the department.

Last month, the US savings rate, personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income, edged up to 3.4 percent from 3.3 percent in September.

Consumption accounted for about 70 percent of US overall economic activity, the main engine of the nation's economic growth.

Superstorm Sandy, which made landfall in New Jersey at the end of October, caused work interruptions and reduced workers' wages and salaries by about 18 billion US dollars, said the department.

US economic growth in the third quarter this year was revised up to a 2.7 percent annual rate from an initial estimate of 2 percent. Real personal consumption expenditures increased 1.4 percent in the third quarter, compared with an increase of 1.5 percent in the second quarter, the department announced on Thursday.

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