US consumer spending was more robust than expected in September, data released on Friday showed.

The market-moving potential of the personal income and spending report was theoretically diminished given traders already had the Q3 GDP report in hand. Still, the figures demanded attention.

Personal spending rose 0.7% last month, nearly matching the highest estimate from the five-dozen economists who ventured a guess. The range of estimates was 0.3% to 0.8%.

Real personal spending was solid too, at 0.4%. Consensus was looking for 0.3% there.

The data underscored the message from the GDP report: The American consumer ended Q3 with a flourish, despite subdued sentiment.

Personal income rose 0.3%, below estimates. The saving rate was 3.4%, the lowest since December.

On the inflation front, headline PCE prices rose 0.4% from August to September. That was hotter than expected. On a YoY basis, the headline gauge posted a 3.4% increase, the same as August and July.

Core price growth matched expectations at 0.3% MoM and 3.7% YoY.

Inflation remains well above target, but as the simple figure above shows, the overshoot is now less embarrassing. At the same time, I should reiterate the obvious: Economy-wide prices aren’t going back to pre-pandemic levels. You need deflation for that. You’ll get it in some categories, but not in the ones that matter.

Again, all of Friday’s top-tier data was stale. It was in the GDP report. But it did reinforce the notion that the US consumer wasn’t tapped out at the beginning of Q4 and that the path from 4% inflation to 2% inflation will be much more difficult than the path from 7% to 4%.