US personal incomes and spending rise more quickly than expected in May

Personal income and spending in the US rose considerably more quickly than anticipated in May.

According to the Department of Commerce, personal incomes increased at a month-on-month clip of 0.5% last month, following an identical gain for April (consensus: 0.3%).

Personal spending meanwhile was ahead by 0.4%, just as expected by economists, but came on the back of a rise during the previous month that revisions showed was twice as big as originally estimated.

Revised data from Commerce revealed that personal spending jumped by 0.6% in April, instead of the initially estimated increase of 0.3%.

Meanwhile, the personal savings rate edged up by two tenths of a percentage point to 6.7%.

Inflationary pressures, as measured by the so-called price deflator for personal consumption expenditures, eased a tad, with the rate of gains slipping from April's upwardly revised reading of 1.6% to 1.5%.

The year-on-year rate of increase in headline PCE prices was originally reported at 1.5%.

At the core level on the other hand, PCE price gains were steady at 1.6%.