Consumers spent more in March, showing American households are absorbing high inflation and are positioned to propel the economy heading into the spring and summer, the Wall Street Journal reported. Personal-consumption expenditures increased a seasonally adjusted 1.1% in March from the prior month, the Commerce Department said Friday. Adjusting for inflation, consumer spending rose 0.2% last month, driven by higher services spending. Household spending also rose at a faster rate than inflation from a year earlier. Consumers stepped up spending on services like travel and dining, as well as on goods like gasoline and food. Spending on durable goods declined for the second month in a row, led by lower spending on vehicles. Personal income, a measure that includes wages and government assistance, climbed 0.5% from the prior month. That was a slower rise than overall inflation, which increased 0.9% on the month in March, according to the Commerce Department. Some Americans tapped their savings to offset cost increases. The savings rate fell to 6.2% in March, the lowest in nine years.
