"Households are starting to ease up on their tight grip on their wallets, though it would be nice if they had more money to spend," observed Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors.
Americans' incomes didn't budge.
Incomes were stagnant in February, as the bad weather forced employers to trim workers' hours. That followed a solid 0.3 percent gain in January and marked the weakest showing since July, when incomes actually shrank. Income growth is the fuel for future spending. February's flat-line reading suggests shoppers will be cautious in coming months.
Spending growth in February matched economists' expectations. The reading on income was a bit weaker than forecast.
Both the spending and income figures in Monday's report point to a modest economic recovery.
That cheered Wall Street investors. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 46 points to close at 10,896. The Dow hasn't traded above that level since
Many analysts predict the economy slowed in the first three months of this year after logging a big growth spurt at the end of 2009.
The economy will expand at a 2.5 percent to 3 percent pace in the January-to-March quarter, analysts predict. That's roughly half the 5.6 percent pace seen in the final quarter of last year.
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