The US economy is growing steadily with little sign of a change of pace, but businesses are generally more optimistic about the future, according to the US Federal Reserve’s latest Beige Book report released on Wednesday.
The survey reiterated the “modest to moderate” description of economic activity in the US for the past half-year, but said that in a number of districts, there are some signs of tightening in the labor market, with companies having trouble filling skilled positions.
The report, which is used by the Federal Open Market Committee to help shape monetary policy, was cautiously upbeat, as has been the case since the end of the first quarter, when extremely harsh winter weather forced the economy into contraction.
The rebound since then has been firm but its strength remains in question, with the survey, covering late July and last month, seeing only “slight to moderate” gains in consumer spending and real estate and construction weakness in half of the Fed’s 12 districts.
It said that the service industry, excluding banks, reported improving business, but results for manufacturing were mixed.
However, the report said that “among districts reporting on their firms’ near-term expectations, the manufacturing outlook remained generally upbeat.”
The report showed that, even with the pace of activity largely unchanged, there were rising expectations for the next half-year.
Five districts reported that contacts “generally remained optimistic about future growth; most of the other districts cited various examples of ongoing optimism from specific sectors.”
Among key indicators of activity, auto sales in some areas were strong but in others were beginning to fall from recent peaks, tourism was widely improved with higher hotel occupancy rates, and bank lending was on the rise, though mainly for car and truck purchases.
On the other hand, home loan demand had weakened, and home sales and construction was also largely flat.
A number of districts reported shortages of workers with specific skills — information technology workers, truck drivers, energy sector workers and construction workers — wages were mostly unchanged, suggesting some slack remains in the jobs market.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen has repeatedly cited continued slack in employment, and little inflationary pressure, to justify the committee holding its benchmark federal funds interest rate at zero to support the economy.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last