According to a to an article published today on the Wall Street Journal,the central bank's beige book, which assesses the economic environment in the Fed's 12 districts, cited strength in the U.S. manufacturing sector and consumer spending. Seven districts reported steady growth rates and four districts indicated a less robust expansion than the others. One region simply said economic activity continued to expand.
The snapshot, based on information gathered from early October through Nov. 22, comes two weeks before the Fed's Dec. 17-18 policy meeting. The Fed will decide at that meeting whether to start pulling back its $85 billion-a-month bond-buying program, which is aimed at lowering borrowing costs to spur stronger spending, hiring and growth.
Uncertainty about the Fed's next steps remains a key risk hanging over investors and employers. Fed officials expect to start scaling back the program "in coming months," if the overall economy and labor market continue to improve, according to minutes from its last policy meeting in October.
A separate survey released Wednesday by the Business Roundtable, a group of top corporate executives, found CEOs the most bullish they've been about the economy in almost two years. The survey's economic-outlook index for the fourth quarter rose to its highest point since early 2012. Executives said clearer signals from Washington could help the economy accelerate.
"We have an economy that is on the cusp of growing at more than the 2-to-3% we've seen," said Boeing Co. CEO Jim McNerney, who is chairman of the group.
"They've chosen to keep interest rates very low, to keep the economy in a very highly liquid state," he said. "I think we're all mindful of the fact that tapering does need to happen somewhere along the line or we're going to have a very difficult inflationary environment here. Exactly when, we don't know."
The overall economy is beginning to stabilize,new home sales rose 25% in October from the prior month to an annual rate of 444,000.
Private-sector jobs rose by 215,000 last month, while the October increase was revised to 184,000 from 130,000 reported a month ago.
The Fed will decide at its December 17-18 policy meeting, whether to start pulling back its $85 billion-a-month bond-buying program, which is aimed at lowering borrowing costs to spur stronger spending, hiring and growth.
