The latest report on personal income and spending is set for release at the bottom of the hour.
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The second straight month of spending weakness could signal trouble, given that consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of economic activity.
Expectations were for income to rise 0.4% in October while spending ticked up 0.3%. Wages and salaries shot up 0.6 percent, the largest increase since May.
On the inflation front, the Commerce Department said its personal consumption expenditures price index was unchanged in October after rising by 0.2 percent in September.
On a year-on-year basis, the PCE index rose 1.3%, slightly below the 1.4% consensus but in line with the 1.3% rise recorded in September.
The tepid rise in consumer spending could combine with an anticipated drag from an ongoing inventory reduction to hold the economy to around a 2 percent growth rate in the fourth quarter. It was the highest monthly savings level in three years. The annual rate of growth was flat at 0.2 percent.
Economists are forecasting growth will accelerate to around 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter, helped by stronger consumer spending.
An analysis by Morgan Stanley suggests that consumers have pretty much saved all the money from lower gasoline prices over the past year.
Anemic consumer spending will probably do little do change expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next month as other data on Wednesday showed a surge in business spending plans in October and a drop in new applications for unemployment benefits last week.
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Real spending rose 0.1% in October, which was also less than expected. The Fed has said it is prepared to move once it sees further improvements in the labor market and is confident that inflation will move back to its 2 percent target over the next couple of years.
