Fed Less Gloomy in Beige Book Report

Washington, DC, April 30, 2009--The Federal Reserve on Wednesday painted a less gloomy picture of the economy in its latest Beige Book, an anecdotal view of the economy in the central bank's 12 U.S. districts.

According to the report, which covered the six weeks to April 6, the Fed's banks saw overall economic activity contracted further or remained weak. However, five of the 12 districts noted a moderation in the pace of decline, and several saw signs that activity in some sectors was stabilizing at a low level.

The prior report, which was released in early March, indicated the U.S. economy won't be recovering from its subprime blues much before the end of this year.

According to that report, 10 of the 12 reports demonstrated weakening conditions or declines in economic activity in the six weeks through late February.

Despite stronger headline from Wednesday's report, the contents were essentially an echo of previous releases. Credit remains tight, manufacturing weakened, retail spending remains sluggish, while home prices continue to fall and commercial real estate market deteriorates due to dropping demand for office, industrial and retail space.