Covid-19 had its hand in one of the most extreme economic reports ever.

The BEA's Personal Income and Outlays Report has the curious details of an unexpected ride.

Income and Outlays

• Income: +10.5%
• Disposable Personal Income: +12.9%
• Real Disposable Income: +13.4%
• Personal Consumption Expenditures: -13.6%
• Real Personal Consumption Expenditures: -13.2%

Prices 

• PCE Price Index: -0.5%
• PCE Price Index Excluding Food and Energy: -0.4%
• PCE Price Index Year-Over-Year: +0.5%
• PCE Price Index Year-Over-Year Excluding Food and Energy: +1.0%

Fascinating:
Personal spending nosedived -13.6% in April
But...income jumped 10.5% in April, likely from the stimulus checks and unemployment aid.

The big question: What happens when the aid runs out?https://t.co/1Q5JTU6rKP

— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) May 29, 2020

Consumer Spending Falls a Record 13.6%

The Wall Street Journal reports Consumer Spending Falls a Record 13.6%

Personal income, which includes wages, interest and dividends, increased 10.5% in April, the Commerce Department reported Friday. The jump reflected a sharp rise in government payments through federal rescue programs, primarily one-time household stimulus payments of $1,200. Unemployment insurance payments also rose sharply in April, helping make up for some of the 8% decline in wages and salaries tied to job losses.

The April drop in spending was the steepest for records tracing back to 1959. Weak April spending adds to the evidence that the U.S. economy is in for a long, slow recovery. 

Consumers pulled back on services, cutting spending on restaurants and hotels by half compared with April 2019. Health-care expenditures fell nearly 40% from a year ago.

Stimulus Checks

The stimulus checks of $1,200 are one time and the effect will roll-off. 

The WSJ cites a study by the Chicago Fed that consumers spent almost half of their federal stimulus checks in the two weeks after receiving them.

Check distribution was uneven. People received a check if they were below a certain income level whether or not they lost any income to Covid-19.

Mortgage and auto loan forbearance plans surged despite the alleged increase in income.

What Did Economists Expect?

The Bloomberg Econoday consensus estimate was for personal income to sink 6.0%, not rise 10.5%.

So if you were shocked by this report, you were not the only one.