US inflation stays low in August with spending flat

US inflation in August nudged upwards, regaining some of the pace it had lost in the summer, but was still low, according to Commerce Department data released Friday.

However, consumer spending was flat and personal income also rose more slowly than it had in previous months, the figures showed.

Personal income gained $39.3 billion in August, an increase of 0.2 percent over July, down from the 0.4 percent increase recorded the month before.

Personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, a measure of the value of all goods and services bought, were virtually unchanged between July and August, according to the department.

On an annualized basis, the PCE price index, a key measure of inflation cited by US monetary policymakers, was 1.0 percent in August, up from July's 0.8 percent pace. Core PCE, excluding volatile food and energy prices, moved up 0.1 percentage point to 1.7 percent.

Despite the pickup in prices, inflation remained below the US Federal Reserve's target rate of 2 percent.