Houston Chronicle U.S. personal spending slowed in April after record fuel costs, a slump in home values and a deteriorating job market hammered consumer confidence. The 0.2 percent gain in spending followed a 0.4 percent increase in March, the Commerce Department said today in Washington.

Incomes grew 0.2 percent, bolstered in part by the government’s tax rebates. Separate reports showed business activity dropped for a fourth month in May and consumer sentiment decreased to the lowest level since 1980. Retailing stocks slumped after the figures reinforced forecasts for spending growth to slow this quarter to the weakest pace since 1991. J.Crew Group Inc., the casual-clothing retailer, reduced its earnings forecast late yesterday, citing a nationwide drop in the number of shoppers visiting its stores. “Consumers are spending cautiously,” said Michael Moran, chief economist at Daiwa Securities America Inc. in New York, who correctly forecast the gain in spending. “The economy is in a grey area between recession and slow growth.”

Economists forecast consumer spending gains will slow to a 0.5 percent annual pace this quarter, the weakest since 1991, from a 1 percent pace in the first three months of the year. “Consumers are really very downbeat,” Richard Iley, senior economist at BNP Paribas SA in New York, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. The government is counting on its economic stimulus initiative to revive growth. The Treasury last week said it sent $4.9 billion in tax rebates in the fourth week of the program, raising the total distributed so far to $45.7 billion.

Well, I still haven’t seen my rebate yet. Maybe Bush reads Dvorak Uncensored.