Government mistakenly releases consumer spending data early, showing November up 0.3 percent

WASHINGTON – Consumers increased their spending by a modest 0.3 percent in November, in line with expectations.

The Commerce Department says the increase followed a nearly flat reading in October.

The data on consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of economic activity, was inadvertently released by the government Tuesday, ahead of the scheduled release time early Wednesday. The rest of the data covering incomes, the savings rate and inflation were not released by mistake and were scheduled to be announced at the scheduled time of 8:30 a.m. Eastern.