Thursday, July 19, 2012

"Modest to Moderate"

The latest edition of the Fed's eight-times-a-year-snapshot of regional economic conditions, better known as the Beige Book, was issued yesterday just as Fed chair Ben Bernanke took to the Hill to meet with Congress.  According to the Beige Book, the economy is growing at a "modest to moderate" pace these days. Three of the Fed's twelve districts reported modest growth, while five others reported it as moderate.

Here in New Jersey, the news isn't even that good. Both the New York and Philadelphia districts, which divide our state in half, reported that economic activity was expanding at a slower pace than in the previous reporting period.

That was the tepid environment in which Bernanke faced Congress. And while he admitted that there was more the Fed could do to boost the economy, he gave no hint of future plans, except to say that he wouldn't reconsider the Fed's inflation target of 2 percent. Perhaps we'll hear more when the Fed holds its next Open Market Committee meeting, at the end of the month.

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