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AFP
Washington
Less than stellar US growth in recent weeks has caused many businesses to revise their outlooks and they now expect activity to weaken, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday.
The Fed later this month is widely expected to cut interest rates for the third time this year as policymakers work to provide support for an economy that has begun to sag, even though it continues to outshine the rest of the industrialized world.
“The US economy expanded at a slight to modest pace... as business activity varied across the country,” the central bank said in its beige book report on the economy.
“Business contacts mostly expect the economic expansion to continue; however many lowered their outlooks for growth in the coming six to 12 months.”
Most economists do not expect a recession in the next year but forecasting models still show the risk is increasing.
The hardships that manufacturing and agriculture face, according to the report, have not eased and elsewhere the picture has been uneven, though household spending has remained “solid,” according to the Fed’s report, which gathers data from around the country.
The mood was generally better in the southern and western regions of the country, while the Midwest and Great Plains -- regions key to President Donald Trump’s election upset in 2016, were gloomier -- according to the Fed.
While US economic expansion is in a record 11th year and unemployment remains at 50-year lows, Fed members at their most recent meeting said they had become “more concerned” by mounting risks.
As the world economy begins to sputter, policymakers in recent weeks have said a clearer picture has emerged of the threat from Trump’s trade wars: Skittish companies, unsure of markets and prices, have held back on investment and could soon reduce hiring, which could then eat into consumer spending and growth.
But according to the beige book, for many employers the main barrier to more steady hiring remains the lack of available and qualified workers.
A major New York employment firm said “almost all job candidates are merely jumping from other jobs,” the report said, while pressure to fill open positions in the Philadelphia region remained “acute.”
Washington
Less than stellar US growth in recent weeks has caused many businesses to revise their outlooks and they now expect activity to weaken, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday.
The Fed later this month is widely expected to cut interest rates for the third time this year as policymakers work to provide support for an economy that has begun to sag, even though it continues to outshine the rest of the industrialized world.
“The US economy expanded at a slight to modest pace... as business activity varied across the country,” the central bank said in its beige book report on the economy.
“Business contacts mostly expect the economic expansion to continue; however many lowered their outlooks for growth in the coming six to 12 months.”
Most economists do not expect a recession in the next year but forecasting models still show the risk is increasing.
The hardships that manufacturing and agriculture face, according to the report, have not eased and elsewhere the picture has been uneven, though household spending has remained “solid,” according to the Fed’s report, which gathers data from around the country.
The mood was generally better in the southern and western regions of the country, while the Midwest and Great Plains -- regions key to President Donald Trump’s election upset in 2016, were gloomier -- according to the Fed.
While US economic expansion is in a record 11th year and unemployment remains at 50-year lows, Fed members at their most recent meeting said they had become “more concerned” by mounting risks.
As the world economy begins to sputter, policymakers in recent weeks have said a clearer picture has emerged of the threat from Trump’s trade wars: Skittish companies, unsure of markets and prices, have held back on investment and could soon reduce hiring, which could then eat into consumer spending and growth.
But according to the beige book, for many employers the main barrier to more steady hiring remains the lack of available and qualified workers.
A major New York employment firm said “almost all job candidates are merely jumping from other jobs,” the report said, while pressure to fill open positions in the Philadelphia region remained “acute.”
