Highlights
Personal income soared 1.7% in September, reflecting hurricane distortions and an easy month-to-month comparison following a downward revised 0.9% swing lower in August.

Personal spending rose 0.5% in the month while core prices, up 0.2%, continued to show limited pressure despite high energy costs. Note that the data, part of prior GDP and CPI reports, offer new details but are still old news.

Hurricane insurance payments more than offset the combination of reduced rents and lower proprietor income. Excluding hurricane effects (however useful the reading), the Commerce Department said income would have risen a solid 0.5% in September and 0.3% in August.

Wages and salaries rose nicely in the latest month, but not the saving's rate which keeps contracting, down 0.4% for the fourth straight negative reading! These are the lowest readings in the nearly 50 years of related records. How long personal spending can continue to rise while savings dip is becoming a central question for the economic outlook and for policy makers.

The biggest headline in the report is no surprise and will likely be overlooked, but overall prices did jump 0.9% in the month -- the largest gain in 24 years! But the tame core reading and the October retreat in energy prices diminish the importance of the gain, at least for the financial markets but certainly not at the Federal Reserve.

Nevertheless, the rise in spending should limit concerns over the health of future spending. Financial markets showed little reaction to the report.