Reuters reports on US consumer spending:
[S]pending fell an unexpectedly steep 0.5 percent in August, the biggest drop since November 2001, the Commerce Department in a report on Friday that also showed a surprise decline in income potentially caused by Katrina... [I]ncome in August decreased 0.1 percent as rental and proprietors' income fell. Hurricane Katrina, which slammed into the U.S. Gulf Coast on August 29, likely shaved those two measures by a combined $100 billion annualized due to uninsured property losses, it said...
The spending decline pushed up the saving rate, the percentage of disposable income saved, to negative 0.7 percent from July's record low of minus 1.1 percent.
...consumer inflation:
[E]nergy prices pushed consumer inflation up 0.5 percent, the largest jump since September 1990, the Commerce Department said. Outside volatile food and energy costs, inflation as measured by the Fed's favorite gauge edged up 0.2 percent. Over the past year, so-called core inflation has climbed 2 percent, a tick faster than in the 12 months through July.
...consumer confidence:
The University of Michigan's consumer confidence index finished September at 76.9, unchanged from the initial reading in early September.
...and manufacturing activity:
The Chicago purchasing managers index rose sharply to 60.5 in September after August's 49.2, its lowest reading since April 2003. This meant the Midwest's factory sector moved back to expansion mode after a temporary contraction in August...
The National Association of Purchasing Management-New York said its business conditions index rose for a third consecutive month to 349.7 in September, its highest level in at least eight years.
Reuters also reports on Japan's deflation:
The nationwide core consumer price index (CPI), which excludes volatile fresh food costs and is a key yardstick for monetary policy, was down just 0.1 percent in August from the same month a year earlier... But...the core CPI for the Tokyo area, compiled a month in advance of the nationwide index, fell 0.4 percent in September from a year earlier.
...industrial output:
Other data showed industrial production rose 1.2 percent in August from the preceding month. This was less than the median market forecast of a 1.8 percent increase, but manufacturers surveyed for the report forecast a 3.0 percent gain in September...
A private manufacturing survey released on Friday also pointed to growth ahead. The NTC Research/Nomura/JMMA Purchasing Managers Index rose to a seasonally adjusted 54.5, the highest reading since August 2004 and up from 53.8 last month.
...unemployment:
[T]he jobless rate fell to 4.3 percent from 4.4 in the preceding month and 4.8 percent a year earlier... The jobs-to-applicants ratio for August was 0.97...unchanged from a 13-year high hit in July.
...and retail sales:
Japanese retail sales rose 1.5 percent in August from a year earlier... Helped by an improving employment market and rising wages, sales also rose 1.5 percent from July, seasonally adjusted...
The 1.5 percent year-on-year rise would have been just 0.1 percent if it had not been for higher fuel prices, said Naomichi Miyazawa, a research and statistics official at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which released the data.
The household spending data provide another perspective on consumer demand in Japan:
Spending by Japan's wage-earning households decreased a real 1.3 percent in August from a year earlier to 321,682 yen for the second straight month of decline, the government said Friday. The margin of the fall was smaller than the average market projection of a 1.4 percent decline, and followed a 3.3 percent drop in July...
The average monthly income of salaried workers' households came to 459,994 yen in August, down 2.4 percent in real terms from a year before, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said in a preliminary report. Disposable income shrank a real 2.1 percent to 389,573 yen, it said.
There was also plenty of economic news from Europe:
Inflation in the dozen nations sharing the euro accelerated in September to the fastest pace in more than a year after oil prices surged to a record.
Consumer prices rose 2.5 percent from a year earlier, after increasing 2.2 percent in August, Eurostat...said today. That was the biggest annual gain since May 2004... A separate report from the Brussels-based European Commission showed consumers and executives anticipate rising prices...
Retail sales in Germany...unexpectedly dropped for a third month in August. Sales, adjusted for inflation and seasonal swings, fell 0.8 percent from July, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said today.
The unemployment rate in France...remained at 9.9 percent in September, the Labor Ministry said in Paris. A French consumer confidence index rose to minus 29 in September from a record low of minus 30 in July, according to the Paris-based national statistics office Insee...
An index of business confidence in the euro area rose to minus 7 in September, its highest since February and up from minus 8 in the previous two months, the European Commission...said today... A separate gauge of consumer confidence remained at minus 15 for the fifth successive month, in line with expectations.
Consumer confidence in the UK has been particularly weak.
Consumer confidence unexpectedly fell further in September to its lowest level in almost a year, pulled down by an increasingly pessimistic outlook for the economy, a report showed on Friday.
Consultancy GfK Martin Hamblin said its confidence barometer fell to -5 from -4 in August. That was the lowest reading since October 2004, when it was -6. Analysts had predicted the index would remain at -4.
Overall, it's a mixed picture. As the macroblog says, yesterday's data on consumer demand "ain't good news" but it's only one month's data.
But I'm rather impressed by the increases in the indices of manufacturing activity across several different surveys covering different geographical areas, pointing to a consistent picture of improvement in the sector.
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