The U.S. Department of Commerce has announced that growth in personal income for December was mostly accounted for by a large dividend paid out to Microsoft stocholders.

Microsoft made a one-time exceptional dividend payment of $32 billion, pushing an an otherwise growth rate of 0.6% for December to 3.7% for the month.

The pay-out was also credited with a specific 0.8% rise in consumer spending towards Christmas.

Microsoft has some of the most widely held stocks of any company, and analysts predict that much of the dividend will be used to purchase additional stocks on the market - especially from Microsoft.