Consumer spending in the Untied States rose by just 0.4 percent in May, the smallest increase in three months, the Commerce Department said on Friday.

The department quoted the Bureau of Economic Analysis as saying that personal consumption expenditures (PCE), namely consumer spending, increased by 40.3 billion dollars, or 0.4 percent, in May after a 0.7 percent gain in April.

Income growth also slowed to 0.4 percent last month, following a 0.7 percent increase in April, it said.

Excluding price increases, consumer spending increased by only 0.1 percent in May, compared with an increase of 0.2 percent in April.

Analysts said the report provided further evidence that the U.S. economy was slowing sharply following its rapid growth in the first quarter of the year.

On Thursday, the Commerce Department reported that the U.S. economy had increased at an annual rate of 5.6 percent in the first quarter of this year, the fastest pace in two and a half years.

Source: Xinhua