Core PCE MoM 0.2%.

Due to the recent partial government shutdown, this report combines estimates for December 2018 and January 2019.

The best way to summarize the data in numbers given that some of the data is for December and January (and combined) is to present the table from the BEA:

Table of PCE, core PCE, personal income and spending

The Core PCE data came in as expected. The deflator data was spot on to estimates too (PCE at 1.7% and MoM at 0.1%).

For Personal income it fell by -0.1% which was lower than the 0.3% estimate.

Personal spending for Dec fell -0.5% vs -0.3% estimate. There was no January data released for it today.

Overall, the Personal income and spending were weaker. Inflation measures came in as expected with the core reading below the 2% target for the core and the headline data.

We can thank the government shut down for making this nightmare.

The Core PCE remains below the 2.0% level