Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Beige Book


Just released from the Federal Reserve.


Some highlights from the 12th District (the entire West Coast).
1. Wages and prices are down. This means that inflation is not an issue. Some exceptions were raw goods such as aluminium and some materials sourced from China, namely apparel.
2.Retail trade for this holiday season will be better than last year by 3-7 percent.
3. Manufacturing demand was up for aircraft and metal fabrication, down for wood products.
4. Agriculture and raw goods extraction demand were up due to the low dollar and strong export demand for corn and livestock.
5. Real estate and construction were down.
6. Financial institutions were down due to consumers continuing to deleverage and the struggling credit quality of some banks.
Overall, this is what the recovery will look like.
If you want to get really depressed, look at the 11th District, where high cotton prices, beef prices and energy prices look more like a "real" recovery.

No comments: