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| - The expiration of a government assistance program sent US incomes slumping in October as spending also slowed, data showed Wednesday, demonstrating the headwinds facing the economy as Covid-19 cases surge. Analysts warned the data from the Commerce Department was a preview of what was to come for American consumers if Washington doesn't agree to another spending package to help the unemployed and small businesses weather the spreading pandemic. "In the absence of a fiscal stimulus package, slower employment gains will be insufficient to prevent incomes from falling below pre-Covid levels," Gregory Daco of Oxford Economics said. Personal incomes fell by 0.7 percent in October, more than expected and amounting to a loss of $130.1 billion. The report said this was due to the expiration of a program authorized by President Donald Trump in August that expanded weekly payments to unemployed Americans. That came as the growth of personal consumption expenditures slowed, rising by 0.5 percent last month, slightly better than analysts expected but still below September's rate. Inflation for October was flat, while the savings rate declined a full percentage point to 13.6 percent. As the pandemic attacked the world's largest economy, loans and grants for small businesses as well as expanded unemployment payments authorized by the $2.2 trillion CARES Act supported spending and offset a sharper drop in incomes that mass layoffs could have caused. But those programs expired over the summer, and lawmakers in Washington have been deadlocked for months on approving another measure to support the economy. The report said a sharper fall in income was prevented by expanded payments to farmers whose markets had been disrupted by Covid-19 as well as temporary hiring for the census, which is certain to taper off. With Covid-19 again surging across the United States, Rubeela Farooqi of High Frequency Economics warned of a further collapse in both incomes and savings as the year draws to a close, when programs assisting the long-term unemployed and gig workers expire. "The outlook is dimming as the lift from fiscal support to incomes and savings fades further at year end, when federal unemployment insurance programs expire," she wrote in an analysis. cs/ft
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