But what is the Beige Book ?
is a summary of U.S. economic conditions has been developed by various institutions (among other companies) in relation to variables such as private consumption, inflation, labor market, wages and trends by sector. This document supports the process of making decisions on monetary policy carried out by the FED.
What does the latter report?
This report contains information up to July 17 highlights the following: 1 .-
Economic activity continued to grow overall, although in some regions there was some slowdown.
2 .- Private consumption showed slightly weaker in most districts. 3 .-
Retail sales grew at a modest pace compared to the level recorded earlier this year.
4 .- However, manufacturing activity remains strong and sales of durable goods remained robust. 5 .-
upward pressure on prices of final goods and salaries remain modest, due to increase in energy costs and supplies in general.
6 .- Competition among companies offset the pressures on consumer prices.
7 .- In most areas there was a moderation in housing activity. 8.-
While residential real estate activity has cooled, declining home sales, some districts show some demand for space for commercial activity. 9 .-
acquired mortgage loans and the demand for consumer loans. However, following strong demand for corporate credit.
What can you expect?
more evident is the message of economic slowdown , but softens the message about inflation , but to continue the rise in fuel prices worldwide, the upward pressure on production costs continue. That is, the risks to price stability remain.
Since the latter, it is likely that the Fed decreed a further increase in interest rates in the August meeting in order to strengthen the conditions for maintaining stability in the general price level.
On the other hand, if more severe slowdown for U.S. economy in the coming months, the final of the rate hikes would be close. Remember that the Fed has raised rates 17 times since June 2004 to its current level of 5.25%.
In this sense, the comments of Livermore left in the previous post are overwhelming: "Bernanke quarter-point rises and it ...". Let's see what happens on August 8 when the Fed meets again, for now what is the probability you assigned to the Fed to raise rates to 5.5%?.