Optimism got a break with today’s release for personal income and spending in February. As expected, modest growth prevailed last month as Americans spent a bit more vs. January. The gain marks the second monthly increase in a row. February’s 0.3% rise for both disposable personal income (DPI) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) isn’t particularly impressive, but the fact that both indicators posted a decent rise in a month that suffered a heavy blow from Old Man Winter is an encouraging sign. More importantly, the year-over-year comparisons remain comfortably above zero, which implies that the recent fears of the worst for the business cycle have been excessive after all.
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