Personal Income and Outlays
The other headline numbers in the report were good news for the bond and mortgage markets. Unfortunately, the inflation data carries much more significance in the markets. Personal income was expected to rise 0.3%, but actually declined 0.4%, meaning consumers had less money to spend than they did in April. Not surprisingly, with income falling last month spending did so also. The spending reading was down 0.1%, falling short of the 0.1% increase that was expected. While these numbers were favorable for rates, the stronger inflation readings cause us to label the report slightly negative for mortgage pricing.