September income up, spending down; Chicago PMI takes a header

Personal income and spending figures for the month of September were just released. Income was a bit stronger than expected: +0.2% vs. a forecast for +0.1%. Spending was a bit weaker than expected: -0.3% vs. a forecast for -0.2%.

Meanwhile, the October numbers continue to look horrific. Take the Halloween-day release of the latest Chicago PMI report. It showed the index plunged to 37.8 from 56.7 in September. That was far below the 48 reading that economists were anticipating and the worst reading since May 2001. The new orders subindex dropped to 32.5 from 53.9, the production index plunged by more than half to 30.9 from 71.4, and the employment index slipped to 41.5 from 49.1.