CONSUMER SPENDING GAINS MOST IN 3 YEARS, GOVERNMENT SAYS INCOMES ALSO SHOOT UP, GROWING AT FASTEST PACE SINCE '84.(Business)

Byline: John D. McClain Associated Press

Consumer spending posted its largest increase in three years in 1989, the government said Monday, and analysts said robust incomes should result in continued purchasing strength in the first quarter of 1990.

The Commerce Department said spending totaled $3.47 trillion, a 7.3 percent gain over 1988 and the sharpest advance since a 6.1 percent increase in 1986.

At the same time, it said personal incomes rose 9 percent to $4.43 trillion last year, up from 7.6 percent in 1988 and the fastest advance since rising 9.5 percent in 1984.

"You look at those numbers and you kind of wonder why everybody was …