Beige Book Part II: Prices

By Hale Stewart: Last week, the Fed released the Beige Book. This is one of my favorite economic releases, as it gives us near real-time data on the condition of the U.S. economy. Let's look at some of the data points.

The stock market may be providing a bit of relief today but don't let that fool you. The Federal Reserve is here to make sure that any whiff of optimism in the air is swiftly extinguished. The central bank released its latest Beige Book, which includes information from the twelve regions as of February 23, and it ain't pretty. Beige is like ennui. Today's report is more like despair. It's the Beige Book in a new shade of gray.

Daryl Montgomery submits: The Fed just released its Beige Book summarizing U.S. economic conditions up to the end of August and the takeaway was "widespread signs of a deceleration compared with preceding periods". In general though the report was a mastery of double-speak and attempted obfuscation.

Federal Reserve Beige Book highlights for April 15th. The Beige Book documents comments received from business and other contacts outside the Federal Reserve and is not a commentary on the views of Federal Reserve officials. The book is published eight times a year.

The Federal Reserve's latest Beige Book report, which provides anecdotal data on economic conditions around the United States, paints a mixed picture. One of the things that came up a few times in the report was the Affordable Care Act.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. economy trucked along at a “measured” pace in recent weeks and hiring remained modest, according to a Federal Reserve report that did little to calm concerns about slow growth and high unemployment. Details from the manufacturing sector were mixed, the Fed said in its Beige Book report on Wednesday. Contacts in five of the Fed’s 12 districts reported worries about the outlook for 2013, predicated in part on concerns about a looming “fiscal cliff” contraction in the U.S. government’s budget.