Fed: Economy Carries Momentum Into Spring
By JEANNINE AVERSA
The Associated Press
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The economy headed into the spring season with solid momentum, helping to generate more employment opportunities and keep factories humming, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday.
Overall economic activity continued to expand into early March even as the housing market flashed fresh signs of cooling after a red-hot, five-year stretch of record-high sales, the Fed said in its new snapshot of business activity around the country.
Thus far, the strengthening labor market is translating into modest wage gains for the average worker in most of the Fed regions, the report said. Fed officials closely monitor wages _ as well as the prices of goods and services _ for insight into the nation's inflation climate.
In general, consumer prices also are rising at a modest pace even though businesses are coping with high energy prices and rising costs for other materials, such as cement, lumber and copper, the Fed said.
The survey is based on information supplied by the 12 regional Federal Reserve banks. The information for the survey was collected before March 6. It will figure into discussions at the Federal Reserve's next meeting to examine interest rates on March 27-28....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/15/AR2006031501352.html
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