Wednesday, April 24, 2002

Fed Report Finds Economy Recovering, but Still Weak "The U.S. economy is improving after falling into recession last year, but concerns remain about the pace of recovery, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday in a report." "'While the overall tone was positive, a few districts expressed qualifications about the pace of the recovery or the strength of their regional economies,' the Fed said. "The report said the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, one of the Fed's dozen regional banks, saw economic conditions improving but that the rate of gain had 'slowed considerably' from earlier in the year. The Kansas City and Dallas Fed banks also said their regional economies were 'still weak.'" ... [Beige Book] 1:24:44 PM  Google It!  comment  []

US durable goods orders fall 0.6% in March "Orders to US factories for cars, computers, cranes and other durable goods fell for the second time in three months in March, according to an official report that suggested business investment in the US had sunk at the fastest pace in six months." "The US commerce department said new orders for durable goods - items built to last at least three years - fell 0.6 per cent in March to $173.4bn after rising an upwardly revised 2.7 per cent in February." "Together with the Fed's latest survey on regional economic conditions, also released on Wednesday, the report may leave new doubts about the quality of the US recovery from last year's recession." "Orders were down even more sharply after excluding military equipment. Orders for industrial machinery and electrical equipment respectively dropped 1.4 per cent and 2.3 per cent. Communications gear orders plunged 14.6 per cent." "Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, has repeatedly highlighted the capital goods measure as an important investment barometer. Earlier this week, he said an investment revival was critical to the US recovery." 8:43:36 AM  Google It!  comment  []