French April Consumer Spending Weaker Than Expected

French consumer spending rose less than expected in April as households held back on manufactured goods purchases, statistics showed Tuesday.

Consumer spending rose 0.5% on the month in April as spending on energy jumped but manufactured goods spending declined, statistics agency Insee said. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a 0.7% increase on the month.

Still, consumer spending in March wasn't as weak as initially forecast. Insee revised the March consumer spending figure upward to a 0.1% decline on month from -0.4% previously.

-Write to William Horobin at william.horobin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 30, 2017 03:22 ET (07:22 GMT)