Beige Book: US economic outlook 'optimistic'

[steven johnson]

Source: BBC

The US economic outlook has become "cautiously optimistic", according to the latest issue of the Federal Reserve's influential Beige Book.

Five of the 12 districts surveyed said there were signs of improvement, with five showing signs of stabilisation since the last report in July.

Overall, economic activity "continued to stabilise", the report said.

Many economists believe the US economy has bottomed out and is slowly starting to recover.



Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8247484.stm

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The Beige Book, compiled eight times a year and used to help set interest rates, is based on a survey of business views from around the US.

The Beige Book, more formally called the Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions, is a report published by the Federal Reserve Board eight times a year. Each is a gathering of "anecdotal information on current economic conditions" by each Federal Reserve Bank in its district from "Bank and Branch directors and interviews with key business contacts, economists, market experts, and other."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beige_Book

[ixion]

1. oh please

:eyes:

[OhioChick]

4. My thoughts exactly. n/t

[bluestateguy]

2. Let's hope for a recovery that looks like this

[JDPriestly]

3. I went shopping for a teapot in my neighborhood yesterday and today.

Couldn't find one, not one. Looks like the stores including Macy's and Target are cutting back on inventory. And it's fall beginning to approach the Christmas season. Maybe they will stock up in October, but it sure looks bad to me.

Any truck drivers want to weigh in on whether deliveries to stores are up or down? Maybe it was just my jaundiced view of things that made me so pessimistic after my shopping trip.

[PSPS]

5. I've noticed every store is cutting back on inventory

I've seen reduced inventories in Office Depot, Staples, and even grocery stores. In some stores, like J.C. Penney and Target, they can camouflage small inventory reductions by spreading out the displays.