U.S. consumer spending plummeted in September, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

It fell 0.5 per cent, its biggest drop in nine months, as the government's Cash for Clunkers auto sales program ended.

Shoppers stroll past a discount sale sign in the window of The Gap department store at Hulen Mall in Fort Worth, Texas. Consumer spending in September had its biggest drop in nine months. (Paul Moseley/Associated Press)

Spending on durable goods, such as cars and large appliances, fell seven per cent from August.

The unwillingness to spend signals just how fragile the recovery is in the U.S.

Still, Millan Mulraine, economics strategist at TD Securities, took a positive view of the numbers.

"There are encouraging signs," he said in a commentary, "that overall consumer spending has remained fairly healthy [given the circumstances] as expenditures on other spending categories has remained quite strong."

Incomes, which are closely watched as an indicator of future spending, were unchanged from the earlier month.

With files from The Associated Press