Monday, June 1, 2009

Consumers trimmed their spending in April — although not as much as expected.

The government says with income growth far outpacing spending, Americans' personal savings rate rose to 5.7%. That's the highest since February 1995.

Consumer spending dipped 0.1% in April. Incomes jumped 0.5%, following two straight months of declines. The improvement in April was due to tax cuts and benefit payments flowing from President Barack Obama's stimulus package.

Wages and salaries were flat in April.

Also, construction spending rose a surprising 0.8% in April, marking the second straight monthly increase.