One State Split in Two

The Federal Reserve issued its so-called Beige Book on Wednesday, providing information on the economic conditions for each of its 12 districts. Overall, the report was what you might expect: "economic activity continued to stabilize in July and August," and "the outlook for economic activity ... remained cautiously positive."

The Beige Book slices New Jersey in two, with North Jersey being covered by the Fed's New York office and South Jersey being covered by Philadelphia. The New York office, representing North Jersey, said the economy had shown signs of stabilizing, while Philadelphia, representing South Jersey, said there were signs of improvement, a somewhat more optimistic view. The New York half of the state noted that the first-time home buyer tax incentives were spurring home sales, while the Philadelphia half said it saw more gains in high-end homes. The South Jersey report had commercial real estate vacancies increasing, while the North Jersey side was more mixed.

Did the two offices agree on any aspects of the recovery? Both said demand for loans was decreasing, a negative sign, but both said that manufacturers were expecting positive growth over the next year, a positive sign. In general, the outlook is the same all over New Jersey: Things aren't great, but they're starting to get headed in the right direction.