WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Consumer spending fell 0.4% in September, the Commerce Department reported Friday. This is the biggest drop since June 2004. Real consumer spending fell 0.4%. Income rose 0.2% in September after a 0.4% rise in August. Real disposable incomes rose 0.1% in September. The core personal consumption expenditure price index rose 0.2% in September compared with August and is up 2.4% in the past year. Wall Street economists had expected a 0.1% gain in incomes, a 0.3% fall in spending and a 0.2% rise in the core PCE. The decline in spending in September was foreshadowed in the third quarter gross domestic product report released Thursday. The U.S. economy contracted at a 0.3% annualized rate in the third quarter, as consumer spending declined at the fastest rate in 28 years, according to government estimated.
