Keeping Track: income and spending

Personal income rose 0.3 percent in April, to an annualized rate of $8.94 trillion, the Commerce Department reported last week. That gain was about what economists had expected.

Personal spending rose, too, for a fifth straight month, edging up 0.5 percent to $7.32 trillion. That was a little below the 0.7 percent forecast.

Adjusted for inflation, real spending rose just 0.2 percent in the month, and advanced 1.6 percent annually – about half the pace of the first quarter. Spending on durable goods rose 1.4 percent.