Personal income rises more than expected

Personal income rose 0.4% in March, while personal spending climbed 0.1%, according to the Commerce Department.

Economists had forecast that personal income rose 0.3% in March, while spending increased 0.2%, according to Bloomberg.

The report included data on personal consumption expenditures (PCE), a key way to gauge the level of consumer spending within the US economy.

It's also the Federal Reserve's preferred way to measure inflation, and the year-on-year gain in core PCE is closely watched by economists.

Core PCE, which excludes volatile food and gas costs, gained 0.1% month-on-month, and 1.6% year-on-year, a drop from 1.7% in the prior month.

Including these costs, the PCE deflator was at 0.1% month-on-month, and 0.8% year-on-year.

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