U.S. consumer spending rose for a second consecutive month in February and sentiment edged up in March, according to reports on Friday that backed views that the worst of the recession may be over. Spending increased 0.2% after rising by an upwardly revised 1.0% in January, the Commerce Department said. The big adjustment to January’s figure, which was previously reported as a 0.6 % gain, suggested that consumer spending rebounded in the first quarter after a big drop at the end of last year, analysts said.”It looks as though spending will manage an increase of just over 1.0 % at an annual rate in the first quarter,” said Nigel Gault, chief US economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts. Consumer spending, which accounts for over two-thirds of US domestic economic activity, fell at a 4.3% annual rate in the fourth quarter, the biggest decline since 1980. Spending dropped 3.8 % in the July/September 2008 period.
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