US Personal Spending likely to show a rise of 0.4% in  April  - Wells Fargo

On Tuesday, in the US, the personal income and spending report will be released. Analysts from Wells Fargo, expect nominal consumer spending to rise 0.4% in April. 

Key Quotes: 

“Real consumer spending started the year at just 0.3 percent in the first quarter, the slowest pace since October 2009. The downshift has been attributed to softer utilities spending but, in our view, the slower pace had more to due to a tax policy change that went into effect this year. Households filing for the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Childcare Tax Credit had their tax refunds held until February 15th.”

“Recent consumer sector data, including retail sales data point towards a bounce back in consumer spending in Q2. Now that the delayed tax refunds are flowing to households, we expect consumer spending to make up ground in the second quarter.”

“Our forecast calls for 3.0 percent real consumer spending in Q2. We expect nominal consumer spending to rise 0.4 percent in April, setting up a solid start to the quarter. With continued wage gains and steady employment growth, we see consumer spending rising to average 2.4 percent over the final two quarters of this year.”