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As last night, US Fed Chair Janet Yellen sounded upbeat on US economic activities and interest rate hike, the Beige book showed that US regional economic activity is picking up.
Beige book is released by US Federal Reserve, which provides economic evidence from 12 regional branches of the Federal Reserve. It showed that US economic activities gather pace from May to June.
Key highlights -
- Employment improved in most of the districts. However, energy sector is still cutting jobs due to lower oil price amid oversupply.
- Service sector employment growth remained strong. However manufacturing continued to pain mixed picture as some regions seeing gains, while other layoffs.
- Consumer spending improved, however remain mixed across regions. While some reported improvement due to lower oil price, while others blamed stronger dollar.
- Wage pressures were "modest" across most of the country. It showed that businesses are gearing up to hike wages in the coming days. This is prominent in Cleveland, Chicago and San Francisco.
With regional economic activities growing, FED is moving closer to a rate hike as Chair Yellen indicated in her speech.
