Income Rises 1.7 Percent In October; Farm Subsidy Payment Helps to Boost Figure
A one-time surge in farm-subsidy payments helped drive personal incomes up 1.7 percent in October, and Americans saved the extra wealth instead of spending it, the government reported yesterday.</br></br>The 1.7 percent figure matched the monthly advance in July 1981, which was the largest since a 2.5 percent gain in June 1975.</br></br>The Commerce Department reported a 0.3 percent rise in orders to U.S. factories for durable goods, a moderate advance propelled by a sharp jump in aircraft orders. It followed a 2.4 percent surge in orders in September. Analysts said the gains showed rising overseas demand for U.S. products.</br></br>The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes climbed 3.2 percent in October, the best showing since May, despite the fact that mortgage rates were rising sharply in the first half of the month and the stock market fell in the last part of October.</br></br>The rise in personal incomes occurred mainly because farm incomes shot up 90.7 percent to an annual rate of $71.7 billion in October because of a big jump in government subsidy payments.