Beige Book: Most Districts indicated economic growth was modest

  • Most Districts indicated economic growth was modest during July and August
  • Consumer spending on tourism was stronger than expected but other retail spending continued to slow, especially non-essential
  • Some Districts highlighted reports suggesting consumers may have exhausted their savings and are relying more on borrowing to support spending
  • New auto sales did expand in many Districts, but contacts noted this had more to do with better availability of inventory rather than increased consumer demand.
  • Manufacturing contacts in several Districts also noted that supply chain delays improved
  • New orders were stable or declined in most Districts, and backlogs shortened
  • Nearly all Districts reported the inventory of homes for sale remained constrained
  • Some Districts reported higher delinquencies on consumer credit lines
  • Job growth was subdued across the nation
  • Nearly all Districts indicated businesses renewed their previously unfulfilled expectations that wage growth will slow broadly in the near term.
  • Most Districts reported price growth slowed overall, decelerating faster in manufacturing and consumer-goods sectors.
  • Full report

This is about what you would expect from this report, though I found the jobs commentary and wage commentary to be more dour than I expected. It sums up what we already know: the jobs market is softening, retail is soft, manufacturing is slow but steady and there is still some pent up savings.

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com. Source