Saturday 21 May 2011

SF Beige Book sees few signs of recovery - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

wood siding installation
The report, released Wednesday, said there are signs of stabilization or improvemen t insome sectors. But overall, the report was downbeat, with retail sales still weak, demand for most services softeningv further and production of manufactured productsextremely low. Overall, some of the 12 Fed districtsa reported seeing signs that the recessiohn may beslightly easing, but none were expectinb the economy to turn around by the end of this In the San Francisco report, commodity prices in general were stable, excepg oil prices, which increased. Prices fell for professional services such as accounting andbusinesw consulting.
Gas prices rose modestly but were stil l belowlast year’s Upward wage pressures were nonexistent, with businesses reporting pay freezes, wage reducing or eliminating bonuses and reduced benefits. Shoppers continues to favor “inexpensive necessities,” the report said, resulting in sales gaind for large discount retailerds insome areas. Grocers saw some strengthened Sales of used cars returnedto “normal” levels in some The Fed said travel activity continued to fall in majofr destinations. In Hawaii, visitor counts and spendingf remained downby double-digit amounts.
Californiaz and Nevada reported ongoing declines in hotel especially in the luxur segment ofthe market. The district’s housing marketa remained weak but showed some signsof improvement. Demanc for commercial real estate slid Banks reported that lending activityy weakened and credit conditionsxremained tight. Demand for commercial and industrialo loansfell further. Banks attributer declines in business and consumerr loan volumes to the limited numbere ofqualified applicants, but notedd that lending standards have remaineed stringent.

No comments:

Post a Comment