Economists blamed the weak September spending figure on falling energy prices and slower auto sales after a surge the previous month.

Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said he expects consumer spending to accelerate to a 2.5 percent rate in the current October-December quarter, faster than the 1.8 percent spending gain in the third quarter.

“The next couple of months will see spending pick up strongly as people start to spend their windfall from falling gas prices,” Shepherdson said.

Tumbling Gas Prices

Lower prices at the pump mean consumers will have more to spend on other items.In September, spending on durable goods such as autos dropped a sizable 2 percent after a 2.1 percent jump in August. Spending on nondurable goods such as clothing, food and gasoline, was down 0.3 percent, while spending on services such as doctor's visits and utilities posted a modest 0.2 percent rise.

Another reason for optimism is continued strong job growth, which pushed the unemployment rate down to a six-year low of 5.9 percent in September. More people working means higher incomes and more fuel to drive consumer spending.

The small rise in income and the decline in spending in September resulted in a slight increase in the saving rate.

Savings as a percentage of after-tax income rose to 5.6 percent in September, up from 5.4 percent in August. The saving rate averaged 4.9 percent in 2013, down from 7.2 percent in 2012. That had been the highest level in nearly two decades as Americans worked to boost savings following the 2007-2009 recession.

Inflation as measured by a gauge tied to consumer spending edged up a slight 0.1 percent in September, with prices up just 1.4 percent over the last 12 months. That is well below the 2 percent target for annual price increases which the Federal Reserve considers an optimal level for inflation.

The government reported Thursday that the overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, grew at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the July-September quarter. Analysts believe after five years of sub-par economic growth, the economy has finally accelerated, helped by solid employment growth.

Economists project growth of 3 percent in the current quarter, helped by solid consumer spending. They are also forecasting 3-percent growth in 2015, which would be the strongest level since 2005, two years before the start of the Great Recession.

The improving economy prompted the Federal Reserve this week to end its third round of bond purchases, which have pushed the central bank's balance sheet up by more than US$3 trillion over the past six years. The Fed bought the bonds as a way to put downward pressure on long-term interest rates and provide an extra boost to the economy after it had slashed its key short-term rate to a record low near zero.

美國消費者支出下降0.2％，九月隨著收入的看到增長緩慢

馬丁Crutsinger，美聯社
2014年11月1日，上午01時02 TWN

華盛頓 - 美國消費者在九月八個月削減開支的第一次，隨著收入的最慢速度，今年增長。這些數據強調，預期將緩解未來數月的嘮叨經濟軟肋。

消費者支出在九月下跌0.2％，美國商務部週五報告，由於一月份的跌幅相同表現最弱。收入上漲了0.2％，9月份由於持平去年十二月的最小單月漲幅。

消費者出現了一個大的消費熱潮8月，其舉起消費支出0.5個百分點後休息一段時間。經濟學家說，九月份的低迷不會持續，尤其是在一片加強就業市場和經濟增長。

支出，佔70％的經濟活動，自2009年經濟衰退結束下跌只有三次。

經濟學家歸咎於能源價格下跌和更慢的汽車銷售疲軟九月開支數字飆升後，上月持平。

伊恩·謝潑德森，首席經濟學家宏觀經濟先賢祠表示，他預計消費者支出加速到2.5％的速度在目前的10-12月當季，比1.8％的支出收益在第三季度快。

“接下來的幾個月將看到消費回升強勁，因為人們開始花費他們的暴利，從天然氣價格下跌，”謝潑德說。

美國消費者支出下降0.2％，九月隨著收入的看到增長緩慢

馬丁Crutsinger，美聯社
2014年11月1日，上午01時02 TWN

翻滾天然氣價格

九月份，消費耐用品如汽車後，在八月2.1％的增長下降了相當大的2％。非耐用品開支，如服裝，食品和汽油，下跌了0.3％，而花費在服務，如看醫生和公用事業公佈了溫和的0.2％的增長。

在泵更低的價格意味著消費者將有更多的錢花在其他項目。

另一個樂觀的理由是持續強勁的就業增長，這推動失業率降至六年低點5.9％，九月份。越來越多的人的工作方式更高的收入和更多的燃料來驅動消費。

小升收入和九月份的下降開支導致了儲蓄率略有上升。

儲蓄稅後收入的比例上升至5.6％月，從5.4％月。儲蓄率在2013年，2012年平均為4.9％，從7.2％下降這一直是最高水平的近二十年的美國人曾繼2007-2009年的經濟衰退增加儲蓄。

通過捆綁消費支出計測量通脹小幅上升略有0.1％，9月份，價格上漲只有1.4％，比過去12個月。這遠低於2％的目標，而美聯儲認為通脹的最佳水平每年的價格上漲。

政府週四公佈的整體經濟，這是由國內生產總值（GDP）衡量，增長率為3.5％，在七月至九月季度的年增長率。分析人士認為，五年後低於平均水平的經濟增長，經濟終於加快，固體就業增長有幫助。

經濟學家的項目增長3％，在本季度中，穩固的消費支出有幫助。他們還預測3％的速度增長，到2015年，這將是最強的水平自2005年以來，經過兩年的大衰退開始之前。

在經濟形勢好轉促使美聯儲在本週結束的第三輪債券購買，這也推動了央行的資產負債表增長超過3萬億美元，在過去六年。美聯儲購買債券的方式把長期利率的下行壓力，並提供額外的刺激經濟後，它已削減其關鍵的短期利率至歷史新低接近零。