Consumers, lured out to the stores by the warmest January in more than a century, spent at a rapid clip that outpaced their incomes. However, construction activity slowed to the slowest gain in seven months, indicating the nation’s housing boom is easing.
The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that personal spending shot up by 0.9 percent, the strongest gain in six months, while incomes rose by a solid 0.7 percent.
But in a separate report, the department said that construction spending rose by a tiny 0.2 percent in January, the weakest gain in seven months and far below the 1 percent increase Wall Street had been expecting.
