The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that the U.S. economy had recorded a moderate growth in recent weeks, while emphasizing that the recruitment remained rare and that the housing market showed little signs of improvement.
In its "beige book" summary of economic conditions in the 12 districts of the U.S. central bank, the Fed also notes that the pressures on consumer prices remained moderate and some cost pressures had decreased.
This finding is likely to give more leeway to the Fed in terms of monetary easing if growth were to weaken in early 2012 because of the consequences of global activity in the European debt crisis.
For now, the report confirms what had already been said in the latest "Beige Book" dated: the growth of the economy is not threatened, but the conditions underlying depression can not lower the unemployment rate, currently 9%.
"Overall, economic activity grew at a slow to moderate pace since the last report (…) except the district of St.