WASHINGTON, July 26 (AFP): The US economy is growing at a generally "moderate" pace despite a patchy performance in some regions and a weak real estate market, the Federal Reserve said in its Beige Book report yesterday.
The report, to be used by the central bank at its August 7 monetary policy meeting, noted that the housing market continued to decline and that household lending dropped in most regions.
"Economic activity continued to expand in June and early July," the report noted, although some of the Fed's twelve regional banks reported "modest" growth including Chicago and Cleveland.
"On balance, consumer spending rose at a modest pace, although a number of districts indicated that sales were mixed or below expectations," the report said.
Most economists expect US growth to improve to around 3.2 per cent in the second quarter of the year after growth cooled to a tepid 0.7 per cent pace in the first three months of the year. The government will release its first estimate of second quarter growth Friday.
Fed sees moderate growth, housing still troubled
FE Team | Published: July 27, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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