U.S. Consumers kept cash registers busy in December, boosting their spending by a healthy 0.4%.

The increase reported by the Commerce Department on Monday followed a revised 0.5% rise in consumer spending for November.

The latest snapshot of consumer spending showed that 2003 ended on a good note. Consumers spent at a solid clip in both November and December.

That’s an improvement from the prior two months when their spending was flat.

American incomes, meanwhile, rose by modest 0.2% in December, following a 0.3% rise the month before.

Consumers, whose spending accounts for two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, have been buying at a sufficient pace to keep the economic recovery rolling along.

The economy grew at a four per cent annual rate in the October-December quarter, still healthy although it was a slowdown from the 8.2% rate in the previous quarter.

Fourth-quarter consumer spending went up at a 2.6% rate, down from 6.9% in the third quarter.

Monday’s report showed income growth in December was on target with analyst projections, while the spending increase was slightly weaker than the 0.5% rise economists were forecasting.