French April Consumer Spending Weaker Than Expected

PARIS – 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)