Fed
reports reveal strong economy
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Retail sales are up,
residential housing is booming and even
the nation's beleaguered factories are coming
back to life, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday
in its most optimistic assessment of the
economy in more than three years.
The
Fed said its latest nationwide survey of
business conditions found that the economic
rebound that got going in the summer was
picking up steam in October and early November
with improvements across many industries.
The
survey, compiled from reports submitted
by the Fed's 12 regional banks, was the
most upbeat since before the start of the
2001 recession and the listless recovery
that has extended over the past two years.
''Descriptions
of the pace of growth varied somewhat. But
improvements appeared to be reasonably broadly
based with most districts noting growth
in a number of industries,'' the Fed said.
The
Fed survey, commonly called the Beige Book
for the color of its cover, will be used
when central bank policy-makers hold their
last meeting of the year on Dec. 9. The
Fed is widely expected to hold a key interest
rate at a 45-year low of 1 percent in an
effort to bolster economic activity enough
to persuade businesses to begin rehiring
laid-off workers.
The
Fed has been able to keep interest rates
low for an extended period because of an
absence of price pressures. The central
bank said Wednesday that workers' wages
and consumer prices continued to be ''fairly
stable,'' although there were some increases
in raw materials prices and the cost of
health insurance continued to surge.
The
new Fed survey found some hopeful signs
on the jobless front, noting that ''labor
market conditions generally stabilized after
an extended period of weakness,'' with layoffs
slowing and demand rising for temporary
workers.
The Beige Book report was one of a number
of signs that the economy is continuing
to power forward in the current quarter
after the summer's amazing 8.2 percent growth
spurt.
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