Consumer spending slowed for the second consecutive month in July and personal income fell as the effect of economic stimulus checks tapered off and inflation lingered, the Commerce Department said Friday.

“The temporary impact of the stimulus has passed, and it looks like consumer spending is on track to decline in real terms in the third quarter,” said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics. “It’s certainly a wake-up call to people who yesterday looked at the GDP report and said, ‘Hey, the economy grew by 3.3 percent, so everything’s OK’.”

Consumer spending was down 0.4 percent in July when adjusted for inflation, after a 0.1 percent drop in June. Disposable personal income, a measure of how much money Americans have left to spend after taxes, also fell 1.7 percent in July when adjusted for rising prices. It declined 2.6 percent in June.

The bulk of federal tax rebate checks, which started going out in April, were sent in May and June and then tapered off in July.

“Looking forward, the consumer is on her own. There’s no tax cut, no fiscal stimulus for the remainder of 2008,” said Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at Merk Mutual Funds. “We’ll be lucky if when we get into the fourth quarter we get anything positive from the consumer.”

A key measure of inflation, the personal consumption expenditures deflator, increased 0.6 percent in July, compared with a 0.7 percent increase in June. Excluding food and energy, the “core” PCE index, which the Federal Reserve watches closely, increased 0.3 percent, matching June’s inflation rate. Year-over-year, it rose 2.4 percent in July after climbing 2.3 percent in June.

“Some of the run-up is bleeding into or being passed through other nonfood and energy prices, like airfares,” said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at the PNC Financial Services Group. “Everybody, no matter what business you’re in, has energy costs to produce products and energy costs to transport products.”

Despite the relatively high inflation numbers, analysts do not expect the Fed to raise interest rates soon, given recent remarks by Ben Bernanke, the chairman, and moderating energy prices.

“Their view is that slow growth in the economy and lower commodity prices will eventually bring inflation down without them stepping in and having to raise interest rates,” said Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist at Global Insight. “I don’t think the numbers here would shift their present view.”

Spending on nondurable goods, including energy and food, declined in July by 0.9 percent. An even bigger drop was seen in the purchase of durable goods — generally bigger-ticket items like computers, washing machines and cars — where spending fell 1.6 percent, following a 1.4 percent decline in June. Declining automobile sales were responsible for most of the drop.

The bright spot for the U.S. economy comes from external demand, economists say. Durable goods orders beat expectations to show a 1.3 percent rise in July, for example, because exports outpaced U.S. consumers’ spending declines.

“There’s not enough domestic economic activity to keep the industrial sector afloat,” said Brusuelas. “Now with the dollar weak, relatively speaking, the industrial sector is largely meeting the demand needs of foreigners.”